zondag 3 december 2017

Friday 24 november



The weather forecast had threatened us with rain the entire week and only in the last instance was a bit more optimistic. And we fell lucky. When in Castricum station we stood in a circle so that everyone could present herself to the others, the sun appeared behind the clouds. And it stayed with us the rest of the afternoon.
Most of the talk-walkers assembled had participated in a workshop on ‘valuing plants’ the previous day. So though our call was to widely address the topic of valuing*, there were lots of plants roaming through the various conversations. But not just plants. Also water. Dunes. Sand.
Markets. Adverts. Money. Labour. Justice. Energy quota.

Many of us were new to each other. But the format of the walking seminar worked its magic and we had spirited conversations. Each time until the timer signalled that it was time to talk with someone else again.




*Here’s a description of this edition’s topic “valuing”:

What if we shift from the noun, values (that people may have) to the verb, to value (which people may do), or its gerund, valuing? Valuing is an activity; done in diverse practices and in diverse ways. Lives are being valued (worthwhile, difficult, and so on); commodities are being valued (priced, coveted, thrown out); plants are being valued (as green, beautiful, edible). And so on. Texts are being valued, too (interesting! unclear! not new!). All this valuing goes in the practices we study as well as in the practices relevant to doing research. Where is it explicated, where implied? Where is it spoken, where performed in other ways? How to dig it up modes of valuing and put then into the spotlight? When to respect silences and/or be silent ourselves and withhold (moralising, predictable, too easy) evaluations? How do our questions, methods, and so on, always already include concerns, worries, appreciations? How to live with our research and/or our selves being evaluated – valued – by others? How handle the professional task of valuing the work of our students and colleagues? More than enough questions to ask. And your research may call up yet other valuing related things to discuss while walking.

donderdag 28 september 2017

Last Walking Seminar September 22nd

Last Friday September 22nd, 13 scholars walk-talked a hike from Overveen to Sandpoort-Noord, discussing the topic: Questions to do with doings.
What started off as a rainy introduction round at the platform in Overveen, turned into a beautiful, sunny hike along dunes, a fairy-tale-like swan-lake and early-autumn-coloured woods. 






 As we walked, we discussed about ways to capture practices and doings in ethnographic fieldwork and writing. How to phrase questions in ways that will help us understanding what our interlocutors do- and that they might take for granted? How to write about practices in a way that is not just descriptive? How to create a text that is touching (or provocative) while writing about practices that are often mundane? These discussions also brought us back to more fundamental questions, such as: why is it that in this specific research, we want to study practices, rather than narratives for example, or what do we mean by “practices” in the first place? Meanwhile, the walk reminded us to keep looking around, to not just look down to our feet but also up to the tips of the trees. Sometimes lost in deep or confusing thoughts, we were interrupted by small details that reminded us to keep our feet on the ground. 



Tired, but “good tired”, we checked in at Station Sandpoort-Noord around 5 pm to take the train back to Amsterdam. Although we didn’t gather our thoughts into a final collective conclusion, the array of topics and questions that was discussed reminded us of the importance and challenges of staying with practices.








woensdag 13 september 2017

Next Walking Seminar on September 22nd

The topic of our next walking seminar will be "Questions to do with doing". As present day researchers, we tend to not just want to learn about people’s opinions (beliefs, feelings), we also seek to know what they do. Classically, this is where participant observation comes in. This allows for the observations of doings. However, sometimes such observation is not so easy to accomplish. The doings are too intimate or too rare or too dangerous and so on. 
Which leaves us with interviews. How to do interviews that teach you about doings? Which questions to ask? How to get through too self-evident, or non-verbal and/or contentious aspects of practices? 
And then, at a later stage (for if you have gathered all your materials this walking seminar is still for you!) – how to write about practices – on which/whose terms? How may we best navigate in our writing between academic language(s) and field/interview words?
Be welcome to join our walk-talk on september 22nd. 

maandag 3 april 2017

Last Friday's Walking Seminar

On the last day of March we had another Walking Seminar edition, this time on the topic When is good good enough? Although the weather was not as perfect as expected it was good enough to facilitate a good walk-talk. We walked through the beautiful dunes of Overveen. Rain and wind made this walk into a four-hour exercise of academic exchange, methodological thinking-along and body-mind stamina.

We talked about finished texts, enough work and different goods we encounter when writing; throwing out good pieces in order to better the text in general, focusing on one topic and (for now) letting go of other interesting ones and how to decide when we have done enough (fieldwork or writing). Sometimes we also talked about different goods that emerge in our field or different goods as a strategy to look at our field.


This was the topic that triggered are talks:
When is good good enough? One of the many enemies of a researcher/author is perfectionism. Obviously, we want to give good presentations, write good texts, make good films and otherwise be and do good. However, at some point striving after doing better, better and better still, turns itself against us. It may block the fluid writing of an outline and/or a first rough draft – as what comes out of your hands isn’t, you feel, good enough. It may lead to endlessly postponing the moment you invite others in to comment – as what there is to comment on is not yet good enough. It may fuel insecurity, give stress, what have you.
In secondary school you mostly got assignments with questions and these all had a right answer. You may have learned to like to feel intellectually in command. However, in doing research and engaging in original writing feeling in command is a rare event (and neither quite necessary nor even particularly desirable). How to work well without it?



maandag 20 februari 2017

When is good good enough? Come to our next walking seminar on March 31st

The next walking seminar will be on Friday March 31st from 12.15 until early evening. This walking seminar will be devoted to the question "when is good good enough".

One of the many enemies of a researcher/author is perfectionism. Obviously, we want to give good presentations, write good texts, make good films and otherwise be and do good. However, at some point striving after doing better, better and better still, turns itself against us. It may block the fluid writing of an outline and/or a first rough draft – as what comes out of your hands isn’t, you feel, good enough. It may lead to endlessly postponing the moment you invite others in to comment – as what there is to comment on is not yet good enough. It may fuel insecurity, give stress, what have you.

In secondary school you mostly got assignments with questions and these all had a right answer. You may have learned to like to feel intellectually in command. However, in doing research and engaging in original writing feeling in command is a rare event (and neither quite necessary nor even particularly desirable). How to work well without it?

In this walking seminar we will encourage each other to recognise when in our working lives the perfect is the enemy of the good and share strategies for letting go, accepting irreducible difficulties, facing our limits, for laughing, flowing and breathing. And, of course, for staying rigorous and persevering – for it is as well to also avoid falling for that other enemy – self-satisfaction.

If you would like to join us on this edition then please send an email to Ulrike at u.scholtes@uva.nl. Ulrike will make a list of walkers and provide those on the list with further information on the route.