budding scholar

The weekends are a time when I get distance from my project, space from the day-to-day, hour-to-hour intensity of interviewing people and observing in schools. I try and take one day off, not touching the project at all, usually on Saturdays. Then the other day I prepare for the week, usually on Sundays. Yesterday we took the afternoon off, hiked up to Parc Güell, Gaudi’s famous park that is so popular with tourists in Barcelona. We kept going up and up until we could see the whole city spread out below us in all directions.

Looking forward to getting past the nitty-gritty everyday of my project (for now anyhow), and getting some perspective this summer. Until then, three weeks of intensive fieldwork remain. Time to go organize the Sunday to-do list…

An important part of being in academia, starting with graduate school in most places, is seeking out funding for research. Whether you’re looking at social questions like I am, or searching for answers to climate change, all research depends on funding, and whether you get it depends on grant proposals. This involves learning to package your work in different ways, talk about its importance to different people, zoom in or out of the details. I’ve done this successfully once, with the Fulbright, but the Fulbright application process is much different (and arguably easier) than most other application processes, because you’re limited to 2 pages.  I’m currently working on a dissertation fellowship application for the Spencer Foundation, which receives 600 applications a year and awards 20. Very steep odds! But worth a try, I think. Just going through the process has been a learning experience, and helped me refine my project.

Most professional fields require selling yourself, looking for funding or a position, figuring out how to move forward with your work. The most challenging aspects of this for me are:

• Starting the writing early enough, so I can get feedback from many different people on it, and spend a lot of time improving the persuasiveness of my writing.
• Deciding to apply at all, especially with very competitive things.
• Believing in my idea enough, and building an argument that is convincing outside my own head.

What about you? Have you applied for grants or other positions to support your own creative or intellectual work? What has your experience been?