Grad Studies: Creating Community Around Dissertation Writing
Doctoral candidate Emily Jones was selected to participate in the Center for Writing's Dissertation Writing Retreat last summer. The three-week online writing retreat is meant to facilitate a group writing environment for graduate students in the dissertation stage of PhD programs.
What was most helpful about the Dissertation Writing Retreat?
Monday through Thursday mornings we would check in with a warm-up writing exercise, before diving into dissertation work. Then there'd be a lunch break and another small writing prompt, either about the writing process or the PhD experience. Lastly, there'd be an afternoon session of dissertation work before finally ending with a “parking downhill” prompt at the end of each day. The most helpful parts of the program were twofold: being able to talk with other dissertators on a regular basis about the dissertation process as a whole made me feel less isolated and singular; and the daily parking downhill prompt was helpful to wrap up a session of dissertation work while making sure you'd know what you were going to start with at the next session.
Please describe your dissertation project. What was the genesis of your interest in the topic?
The current (tentative) title of my dissertation is, "Cursing the Sky: Fantastical (in)Accessability in Victorian Fiction." My dissertation topic is focused on how physically disabled characters in nineteenth-century British fiction were able to access spaces, places, and situations through fantastical methods of accommodation techniques. The current chapter that I am working on discusses how maternal caregivers gain an excess of access to public spaces which would regularly be restricted but is considered socially, ethically, and morally acceptable when they act as representatives for their disabled children's needs. I am fascinated by how the perception of defining disability as a limiting factor actually becomes subverted, and how these female caregivers gain an additional degree of access that they would not normally have. I became interested in this particular topic due to a consistent general interest as an undergraduate in analyzing how characters in nineteenth-century fiction pushed back against societal boundaries or limits imposed upon them.
Did certain professors significantly nurture the project?
My advisor Elaine Auyoung has been the primary backbone of support for my dissertation writing process. She is always ready to assist me with her generous feedback on drafts, as well as answering any and all questions I've had about the PhD process as a whole. In terms of English classes I've taken while at the University of Minnesota, Professor Qadri Ismail's theory course, Professor Andrew Elfenbein's nineteenth-century British poetry course, and Professor Josephine Lee's race and performance course were all fundamental stepping stones towards the culmination of my dissertation topic.
What have you appreciated most about your studies here at the U?
I've appreciated the warm and welcoming graduate students in the English department who have helped me form a sense of community during the challenging experiences of graduate school.
