Hello everybody--
I might be in some disagreement with mostly what has been said about =
usefulness of the dissertation process so far. As I was told by one of =
my dissertation committee members, dissertation is the only time when =
3-5 academicians focus on and discuss seriously your work. Of course, =
it was a half joke but in the half it was a quite serious statement. I =
consider my dissertation not as the last word to the humankind before =
I'm going to die (it is a Russian saying) but as an important learning =
process for me. I had four senior scientists seriously examining with me =
the research that I had done. Their helpful comments and doubts led me =
to produce a good draft (but not the final one) for a future =
publication. I consider my dissertation manuscript as "unreadable" in a =
sense that it had too strong incomplete dialogic features (using =
Bakhtin's terms). I think it may be difficult to read someone else =
without knowing the discussions my four committee members and I had.
Is the dissertation process often unnecessary painful process? =
Unfortunately, yes (at least, too many of my friends say so). I agree =
with Jay that gatekeeping and _rite de passage_ are approaches that =
often contribute a lot to adding pain to the process. However, it is =
important to develop new approaches to this process. I know that some =
people (including members of my dissertation committee) try to modify =
the process and its ideology to make the dissertation process less =
painful and more useful for the student and the academic community.
Here is my vision on the dissertation process defined from a =
"meaningful" approach:
Dissertation as a process:
1. Dissertation is the culmination of student's ZPD ("the zone of =
proximal development") in graduate school. Collaboration with the =
advisor and other faculty members reaches its peak.
2. Dissertation is the process of joining the academic community through =
student's efforts to ground his/her dissertation research, to be =
relevant and interesting, to foresee future development of the =
community, and to articulate findings and their importance to the =
community.
3. Dissertation is the way of getting a place in the academic community =
via getting a job. Usually job talk, vita, and cover letter are heavily =
based on the dissertation research.
Fortunately for me, my dissertation committee was "in a search of =
meaning" and collaborated with me in ways to try to design a =
dissertation process that was both useful and comfortable for me. They =
struggled with mainstream traditional ideology and traditions developed =
in the academia and described by Jay. But what maybe most important is =
my participation as a student was open in this process. I really =
thankful to them for this learning experience (although not =
non-problematic one). I was not traumatized by the dissertation =
experience.
Eugene Matusov
UC Santa Cruz
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