THESIS REFLECTION: MAKING THE COURSES WORK FOR YOU

BY: KATIE METHOT

If I am always consistent with one thing, it is definitely procrastinating on important things that I need to finish. During my undergraduate degree I would sometimes have a ‘eureka’ moment and easily power through papers that were due the next morning. Years later, this no longer works for me since I find it impossible to stay up all-night (I have discovered the wonders of going to sleep at 10:00pm), let alone develop coherent and intelligent work at 4:00am. However, I started the MMSt program with the outlook that I would use my coursework and readings to help craft my thesis topic and proposal. This way, I would consistently be doing work that related to my intended topic and I could begin thinking critically about the subject. This was beneficial as the topic I had in mind when I began the MMSt program changed and evolved significantly by the time my proposal was finished. I found that through considering my topic and analyzing it in relation to museology and art theory in my courses, I was confident that this was the subject I wanted to spend the next year researching and writing about.

Use what you discuss and read in your courses to develop and refine your thesis topic

However, one thing I should have looked into before enrolling in courses is how they would benefit me as an aspiring thesis student. In order to write a thesis, students must complete INF1240 Research Methods in preparation for crafting a proposal and establishing research plan. While I learned a lot from the course, my assignments were different from the other sections that were offered. Other sections had assignments which were geared towards preparing the students to write proposals, while my assignments focused on analyzing practical research methods (which would benefit me once I had begun my research). In preparation for writing a research proposal (which I had never done before), I would have appreciated having a preliminary proposal that had been reviewed and given me a foundation to work from when developing my final proposal. Instead, I was stuck hounding my thesis supervisor and googling examples of other proposals to make sure that mine offered enough of a research plan and thorough explanation about my topic. Fortunately, my other thesis colleagues were much better prepared and offered me helpful examples and information! In addition, when I was running out of time to finish my proposal, I had months of relevant notes that I had taken in other courses.

Eventually, I got down to business and finished my proposal

If I were to offer advice to students considering a thesis, I would recommend using your courses to think critically about your intended topic. Museology is not a narrow subject and its multifaceted nature relates to a wide range of concepts that may help you to develop your thesis topic or decide whether a thesis topic is suitable for you. Although I continue to fight the urge to procrastinate, I am pleased to have picked a topic that I am genuinely enjoying researching and look forward to writing about.

THESIS REFLECTION: THE NON-MONETARY BENEFITS OF SSHRC

BY: ROBIN NELSON

For our last thesis posts this summer we want to talk about what we have found helpful as students pursuing the thesis option. I hope that these next few posts can help incoming students interested in the thesis option! I am going to talk about SSHRC - the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council - CGS M program and how useful the application process is.

The Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master's Scholarships funding opportunity seeks to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students in the social sciences and humanities who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies.

SSHRC

Basically it is a $17500 scholarship available to Masters students doing research (so those in the thesis option). The application (which you should start writing in October) is due at the beginning of December and involves writing a one-page summary of your intended research. A research summary intended to solicit money is a weird brand of writing unlike anything I had ever done before. It is hard and takes a lot of work because you not only have to articulate clearly and concisely what you want to do, but you also have to be confident regarding your research’s relevance. For me this meant skimming a lot of bibliographies and reading abstracts to determine what’s out there, positioning my interests within what exists and identifying a gap in existing knowledge. 

Me while writing the application

I originally wrote my SSHRC application (or a version of it) as part of a Research Methods (INF1240H) assignment. However, this course is only offered during the second semester this year (I believe), after the SSHRC deadline has based. That does not mean you should not apply! I cannot emphasize enough how helpful writing the page on my research was. It forced me to get familiar with relevant materials and really think about what I wanted to do. The more certain I became regarding what I was going to do, the better I was able to tailor my assignments in other classes to my interests. Later, I was able to use the materials I found while writing the SSHRC application and doing the assignments to write my thesis proposal. 

Me after a teacher advised I change my application AGAIN

Writing SSHRC also forced me to talk about my research. I went to my teachers and other students who were interested in the thesis option, forming a support network. This support was crucial in writing the application and it has continued to be helpful afterward, keeping me calm (or calmer) during the research phase.

Keeping calm can be a challenge…

Some people do not apply because they do not think they will get the money. Even if you do not get the money, thinking and talking about your research is helpful. Another reason people may not apply is that they are uncertain regarding their topic. The awesome thing is, the process helps you become more certain and your interests can continue to evolve (mine have). 

Nicole Ritchie and I both received SSHRC for the upcoming year and would be happy to talk to any student thinking of applying. We’re also happy to invite incoming students into our support group! Please comment or email us if you would like to get in touch.

THESIS REFLECTION: NEOLIBERALISM

BY: NICOLE RITCHIE

A major tenet in queer theory is its disavowal of neoliberalism. These criticisms have been elucidated through the creation and utilization of various terms, such as heteronormativity, homonormativity, and homonationalism. However, what even is neoliberalism?

David Harvey is an oft-quoted author of this concept from his book entitled A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005). While giving a useful history of the development and pervasive adoption of neoliberalism on the world stage, Harvey is very clearly critical of the economic political system. I can in no way relay the complexities of this system’s development, but, instead, with this post I want to set an initial seed for considering neoliberalism in relation to the museum.

On the most basic level, “neoliberalization has meant, in short, the financialization of everything” (Harvey 33).

Meme of Margaret Thatcher, a major figure in the 1980s growth of Neoliberalism; her infamous slogan was TINA: there is no alternative

“Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices” (Harvey 2).

Furthermore, neoliberalism strategically chose the seductive ideals of human dignity and individual freedom as core values, which were also, not accidentally, counter to views of fascism/dictatorships/communism that conversely utilize collective judgment versus individual free choice (Harvey 5). Harvey highlights how this concept of ‘freedom’ is utilized to justify all things, for American neoliberalism in particular (39). Success, in opposition to failure, is placed diametrically in relation to personal and cultural pursuits, rendering inequality as a necessary risk of enabling the rights and liberties of the individual. Queer and affect theory has delved into this language and tool of individual rights and the ‘right’ pursuits, which, as mentioned in the terminology links above, are of course limited within this – something I will be engaging with soon.

“To live under neoliberalism also means to accept or submit to that bundle of rights necessary for capital accumulation. We live, therefore, in a society in which the inalienable rights of individuals…to private property and the profit rate trump any other conception of inalienable rights” (Harvey 181).

Meme of David Harvey

I came across an intriguing museological happening when considering the ‘neoliberalization of culture’ that I think would be valuable to discuss within our museum studies community prior to fully operationalizing what this concept (that is, the ‘neoliberalization of culture’) entails within the literature.

Students in London, UK occupied the empty School of African and Oriental Studies' property on Gordon Square, renaming it The Bloomsbury Social Centre in 2011 and creating their “Museum of Neoliberalism”. The exhibit space contained empty glass cases, containing only artefact labels of ‘Culture’, ‘Politics’, and ‘Economy’.

Image of the Museum of Neoliberalism

As discussed in one article, this attendee highlights some important considerations about what this emptiness symbolizes:

“The exhibit of nothing (with the exception of a lone Lehmann Brothers’ cap in one corner) suggests multiple meanings: is it empty because neoliberalism has so pervaded every aspect of our lives that in our contemporary moment we have indeed “forgotten” the most pernicious form of capitalism yet witnessed by the world? Is it empty because at some future point the ascendance of neoliberalism will mean the “absolute hollowing out of culture, politics and the state” as one commentator suggests—or, even more so, that neoliberalism will have entirely eviscerated our capacities to imagine what the terms “politics” and “culture” even mean, let alone identify objects associated with them? Does the ex post facto request for visitor participation point, ironically, to the “degree of respect” with which neoliberalism cares about public input?”

This questioning of ‘full or empty’ is further contextualized and interrogated here by another attendee of the event.

What do you think of this ‘museum of neoliberalism’? How does it speak in dialogue with the political economy of our time and the museological work that we study and practice? What does this exhibit say about the ‘neoliberalization of culture’?

THESIS REFLECTION: MY TRIP TO THE MET'S PRINT AND DRAWING DEPARTMENT

BY: KATIE METHOT

A few weeks ago had the pleasure of travelling to New York City and meeting with two fantastic curators of prints and drawings. Their refreshing outlook on curating paper collections has given me a new perspective for the future and purpose of prints in museums. Up until now, I have looked at print and drawing study rooms as a negative space, where most works on paper are secluded from the rest of the museum. However, after my conversation with the curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), my outlook has changed. Assistant curator, Freyda Spira and the Print and Drawing department at the Met are doing wonderful work with their collection. Ms. Spira has fantastic insight on the history of the Met’s collection and its future initiatives. The department believes that print and drawing study rooms provide visitors with an opportunity to have an intimate experience with a work of art. As Ms. Spira pointed out, in no other department could you request to see a piece from the collection that is in storage. The study rooms allow individuals to examine works that may not be on display for many years.

The Met’s Print and Drawing Study Room

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, the sensitivity of works on paper prevents them from frequently being on display. However, the Met presents a constant flow of three-month exhibitions in the print and drawing gallery. The limited amount of time that paper works can be on display for was not portrayed as a negative restriction, but as an opportunity to explore many themes within the museum's collection of 1.2 million works. I thoroughly enjoyed the display of prints and drawings, which managed to examine highlights from four-hundred and fifty years of Western art history.

A display comparing Lucas Cranach’s Venus and Cupid with Picasso’s modern interpretation

Another point that Ms. Spira brought up is that collections of other media are often incomplete. In many art museums, representing a complete history of style, culture, and artistic movements can almost be impossible. However, with over a million works, the Met's collection has built a well-rounded history of art through works on paper, without the gaps that are found in the collections of other departments (such as painting or sculpture). With the comprehensive nature of the Met's collection, the early print curators wanted to install a series of 'print invasions' in most of the Met galleries. In light of my interest in using prints to contextualize art and history, I found this concept fascinating. However, the natural light which is present in many of the Met galleries prevented this concept from being implemented, out of the fear that the works on paper would deteriorate. The enthusiasm of the department made me feel that the concept of a ‘print invasion’ was not out of the question if the conservation issues could somehow be combated. While I have enjoyed interviewing many museum professionals this summer, there have been a lot of negative perspectives presented on current issues affecting paper collections. As I finish my summer research, I appreciated being uplifted by the perspectives of the Met curators who are working with one of the largest paper collections in North America and are making the most of it.