If anyone is interested in looking at my dissertation, please follow the link provided below: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/341/ This is only the first version of course. For the published book (of which I have not even thought about yet let alone looked for a publishing house or anything but which I'm sure will become a # 1 international best seller...guffaw) all arguments, golden threads and examples will be ironed out and beautiful!

Anthropology Forever!

It's been a while since I've written any posts and I can say, life is different now. I graduated from my PhD last December (2011). It was a challenging experience but one that I learned a lot from. As I worked to finalize and defending my thesis, I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to teach a class to 2nd year students, the Anthropology of Business. This particular course married my experience in the corporate world (at P&G Co. no less!) with my interest in anthropology. I still had approximately 12 hours to sleep during the week with all of that which was of course, unacceptable and so I also worked part time job at a Global Health Office where I am still working today. I'm also happy to write that I am doing some postdoctoral work for the university with a great team. It's not just academic either...we're partnered with a community organization who I meet with and update regularly. This work is about finding out what kind of community and integration programming is needed and/or wanted by newcomers (which we've arbitrarily defined as individuals living in Canada for 10 years or less) in London, Ontario. It is fantastic research but I have to say, I believe that this project, the stories, and the people are affecting me more deeply than in some of my previous work. I can only guess as to why I feel this way. Perhaps it is because I'm not struggling as much with my own place in the story line. As a researcher, I now have more experience and so following up on research leads is not as difficult as it once was. I am obviously more comfortable conducting fieldwork in my mother tongue and I don't have to worry about learning a new language, or as much about my finances (well, not AS much), or as much about my family being so far away (again, not AS much since none of them live in London), etc. etc. etc.. In fact, I find it quite baffling since what I originally thought of as making me empathetic...being an immigrant too in the Netherlands...is now gone yet, I feel that much more affected. Perhaps this has to do with being able to take more time to think about, take in, and worry about others' situations and not my own. The stories that I'm hearing are wonderful and at times terrible. I'm struck by the range of emotion and the ability for humans to continue to find courage regardless of circumstance. It could just be that time has dulled my memory of how much I felt when listening to others' stories in the Netherlands. (I heard from PDot just yesterday via email and I have to say, he still rocks!) Whatever the case may be, at the very least, I realise that few other sciences allow you such insight and experience into other people's lives. While it's a bit of a tough ride at times, you can't help but feel richer at the end of the day.

My stomach must have spent time in girl guides

The date for my defense is ticking closer and I'm made ever more aware of it as I meet with my Canadian supervisors for a 'mock defense' and send my poster to the graduate coordinator in order to advertise my public lecture.

I awoke with a knot in my stomach yesterday morning with the realisation that the culmination of the last four and a bit years of my life (longer depending on how you look at it) was but a week away. Oh, how dramatic, right?

Regardless of what happens, I'll be calmer in a week's time. Here's hoping that the drinks after are celebratory! The only unfortunate part is that my defense is early in the morning (9-11) and so QueenB and I will have to go to lunch first before we cheers or commiserate over the day's events.

Flip goes the stomach. That's why I think my stomach spent time in the girl guides as I don't recognise these knots it's producing...granny knot, reef knot, overhand knot...

After a long hiatus...

Last post in April 2011...wow. So it's been a while and things have of course changed. I did return in April to Liskwartier and Bergpolder and through the help of friends and family there, I was able to give a short lecture (40 minutes or so) in DUTCH!

I think my previous Dutch instructors would be quite proud but really I have to thank my editing team (one in particular J.O)who did their best to make my thoughts comprehensible in Dutch. Again, I thank you.

I've been working hard since then, getting my first draft of my PhD dissertation ready by September 1st, 2011. While I would love the luxury of thinking over my 500 pages of field notes, 70 + interviews, and reading more of the literature out there, I'm no longer being funded as a PhD student by my institution and so - the race to finish is on.

Luckily for me, my supervisory team (they've expanded) and I have made the deadline to graduate this fall semester. My dissertation is submitted after many hours of grueling work of which I'm sure had the effect of my supervisors having sworn off any new students in the future. I defend on December 8th and give a public lecture on the 7th.

At this point, I haven't started preparing for my defense. Last week I had the pleasure of attending the AAAs in Montreal and gave a paper on urban gardening as a means to identify belonging and non-belonging in Rotterdam North. This was a very small part of my research really but it made a great short presentation. In the coming weeks, I'm going to describe each of my chapters in turn on the blog and of course, provide the link to my dissertation once it's defended and any final changes are made (thinking positively of course!).

Following that, I'm still trying to keep my head above water teaching a class (my first class) in Business Anthropology - the explanation of which is for another blog - and working my part time job on campus, which is not related to the anthropology department at all. Which reminds me, I'm going to be late.

After a long hiatus, well, it's nice to be back.

Returning to Rotterdam

It has been quite a long time since I've been back in Canada. I've busied myself with writing, reading, and teaching these past two semesters. I've just finished the second semester at school and it's now a race to finish up my writing before September. I'm still on track to have my first draft finished by August but will be paying one more semester's worth of tuition so that I can defend my thesis some time between October and December.

In all my planning for this year, I thought for sure that I would have been a bit further along by now but the truth is, there is always something else to do(and I don't just mean watching terrible television or enjoying a weekend up north)! One thing that I've been busy with is my impending trip back to Rotterdam!

You heard me! I'm off to Rotterdam for a return trip from May 16th to the 31st. While it's only two weeks I'm going to try and fit some interviews in there, visit with lots of friends, and give a lecture to the community that I worked with last year. It's not for sure yet when or where I'll be able to give this little speech but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out.

Luckily for me, I've been keeping my Dutch up throughout the year with my friend the photographer. We speak about 6 hours a week in Dutch! Hopefully this will mean that my lecture...which will be in Dutch!...will be understandable.

For now, I will start thinking about what I need to pack, what presents I need to buy and of course, what things I can write about on my return trip!

Lekker Koffie!

When I was in the field, where did I do the majority of my interviews? Well that's simple, Nika Cafe in Oude Noorden.

When in the field, it was always a question that I asked right after someone agreed to an interview. If their first inclination was to invite me over for coffee then I accepted. However, if they preferred to meet out in public (I would guess about half of my interviewees did) then I would ask, "where would you like to meet?" If they had a suggestion then I would always agree (after all they are doing me a favour). If they did not however, I would typically suggest Nika! The interesting thing was is that despite the proximity of this cafe, located within the adjoining neighbourhood- my interviewees almost always had never been there before.

Side note: it took me quite a while to understand that when I said, "let's go to a coffee shop" that I was saying something that had a completely other meaning than to what I was referring to. I always found it a bit annoying to have to say 'place for coffee' but eventually I fell into step with the locals and just said, 'wil je een kupje koffie?' 'Want a cup of coffee'? (Place inferred...)

Nika cafe was first introduced to me by my friend Rev. We met there and chatted as the cars, bikes, trams and people whipped by us. Despite the busy, and somewhat dangerous, intersection - the shop itself brings a sense of tranquility. Although it has yet to expand it's menu, Nika Cafe is always ready to give you an array of drinks and a piece of their apple pie. I may sound like I'm working for the owner, Nihat Kaya, but in truth, I miss my coffee hoekje.

In addition to the warm atmosphere, the owner and his family were extremely nice. I think I became somewhat of a known entity there as I would sometimes have up to three interviews in one day (yes, all at Nika). I bought so much coffee from them, I wonder if they've decided a seat to me? Hmmm.

I think everyone still in the Netherlands should go have a coffee at Nika and say hi from la Canadienne.

Hiding Out

I've had no posts for a long time. I feels as though tasks over here are taking twice or three times as long as they did in Rotterdam. For example, although I wrote last time that I was planning on working with seniors to better my Dutch...this has yet to happen! I was told that I need a police check in order to work with this group of individuals. Fine, but to do this I need a letter from my volunteer place about the activities and that I will be doing. Still no problem. And before I go back to the police station, I need to have my London address on my drivers liscence.

This would have been an easy task two years ago when I had a car but now that I'm using public transportation (which although is good for the size of the city I live in here in Canada, is laughable compared to Rotterdam's system) - a small task takes all afternoon. Couple that with my other responsibilities here at the university at the moment and I'm running around all over the place. Time spent on my blog is now spent waiting at the bus stop or walking 5km to my destination. So although it looks like I'm hiding, what I'm really doing is RUNNING!

Take home message of the day: I miss my bike!