SKY doctoral course: How to Read your Research Materials (5 ECTs) University of Helsinki, 14-15 March 2019

This PhD course is a two-day workshop for current PhD students that focuses on gender, sexuality and feminism. It will be the first of a series of methodology oriented PhD workshops within the doctoral programme Gender, Culture and Society (SKY). In this workshop invited experts on different methods of reading and analyzing various types of research materials, together with the participating PhD candidates, will comment on, and offer readings of, samples of materials from their own and others’ PhD projects.

 

In this first workshop, Tuija Pulkkinen and Ann Phoenix, will provide in their lectures examples of their methods of reading the materials in their own research and will contextualize their methodological choices within the wide scope of possible, creative research practices that are currently burgeoning.

 

The idea of the course is to provide insights from experienced researchers into their research practices and to give hands on experience of dealing with the many different issues and problems that arise for anybody dealing with research materials. The aim is to help those attending to see how they can advance and complete their analyses and writing to high international standards.

 

       The two workshop facilitators have long histories of research and writing in a wide area of feminist scholarship and gender studies, ranging from philosophical and historical analysis of concepts in texts, to applying psychological, sociological, political, and creative analytic insights to research materials. They will give talks that illustrate their chosen methods and lead discussion of student materials. Fieldwork notes, internet based materials, visual methods, literary or historical and other types of texts can be included. PhD projects within a wide multidisciplinary range of humanities, social sciences, pedagogical, theological, and law studies; work on feminist and queer theory, contemporary society and politics, social research and conceptual analysis are all welcome. The theoretical frames of the PhD projects will also be varied, building on research within the interdisciplinary areas of feminist and gender studies and including its intersections with postcolonial theory, queer theory and politics, disability studies, and critical animal studies.

 

The course is arranged by University of Helsinki Doctoral Programme Gender Culture and Society (SKY). It is open for applications from PhD students from all universities.