The Joys of Grad Student Final Papers

[Bionicgeek]

I am hoping to have the room in the paper to discuss the heterogeneity of poly identity, which i think is what you're touching on. If you get a chance to look at Hadar Aviram's article "Make Love, Not Law" she makes an excellent case for the heterogeneity, lack of coherent group identity and lack of real interest in political activism on our own behalf (identity politics in particular) to our tendency to be relatively racially and economically privileged (allowing for us to stay in the closet more easily in general,) as well as due to our cultural toolkit inherited from various counter-culture groups, scifi/fantasy fandom, geek culture generally and alternative spirituality. GSU professor Elisabeth Sheff's dissertation is another good analysis.

Right now at this point, I'm wondering what the specifics of my paper are. eek! Which is not a good thing given that it is due on Wednesday.

[Bionicgeek]

Originally Posted by redpepper

Same here though just change Clinical Psych to Soci

The syllabus details are as follows: "consider a particular issue (e.g., war, poverty, privacy rights) and show how a gendered theoretical perspective reveals what is otherwise invisible. Your paper should include discussion of several theorists on a single issue.

In either case, your work should address the following questions:

• What does this work contribute to our ability to analyze the phenomenon in question?
• How does a gendered perspective change our "common sense"or conventional understandings of the problem?
• What are the limitations and applying the theoretical work to this social issue?"

Looking at this I'm beginning to realize I could definitely use some outside inspiration.

[peabean]

As a fellow graduate student (but in the physical sciences) I'm happy to assist you (i.e procrastinate on my own work).

Have you chosen the theorists you will use? I'm thinking the authors of 'Ethical Slut' might be good for the feminist view. There is also the author of 'sex at dawn' or the writers of ' A billion wicked thoughts'.

'What does this work contribute to our ability to analyze the phenomenon in question?'
For me, the obvious answer to this question is a non-judgmental view of non-monogamy. A breaking of the binary relationship standard. There scant little written about the positives of polyamory compared to the volumes of accolades for monogamy.

"What are the limitations and applying the theoretical work to this social issue?"

One way to look at this question is to examine the multitudes of ways that poly is practiced. There is no 'right' way to be polyamorous, but there is a generally accepted 'right' way to be monogamous. Maybe the only holding tenet of poly is honest communication between partners?

Hopefully that can be a start! Back to my chemistry graphs...

[Bionicgeek]

Peabean

I'm reviewing what little literature there is without focusing one one particular theorist. Though I tend to shy away from Sex at Dawn because as a sociologist I tend to see evolutionary psychology to be exceptionally flawed.

You make a good point with the objective (I wouldn't say non-judgmental, since our community does have its flaws in how we attempt to answer dominant societal discourses. Thank you for reminding me of the binary standard, I'll have to bring in a bit using Pallotta-Chiarolli's work on Australian poly families and her use of borderlands theory, which attempts to problematize our social use of Aristotelian dualities and Kantian categories.

"What are the limitations and applying the theoretical work to this social issue?"

One way to look at this question is to examine the multitudes of ways that poly is practiced. There is no 'right' way to be polyamorous, but there is a generally accepted 'right' way to be monogamous. Maybe the only holding tenet of poly is honest communication between partners?

This will probably be the most interesting part of my paper, since I'll probably be doing a bit of theorizing of my own here.

Thanks! Good luck with the chemistry!

[AnnabelMore]

Sounds interesting! You'll share it with us when it's done, yes?

[Bionicgeek]

Originally Posted by AnnabelMore

Sounds interesting! You'll share it with us when it's done, yes?

If you want, sure. Though I'm not sure if I'd kill the post limit size given that these will be over twenty pages.

[redpepper]

oh man, I am so glad to not me a student any more! Geez, glad to not be you right now. LOL.

[Bionicgeek]

Originally Posted by redpepper

oh man, I am so glad to not me a student any more! Geez, glad to not be you right now. LOL.

I'm taking a quick break from that paper to write up a short one for survey methods that is due tomorrow. The Feminist one is due Thursday night.

[mennodaughter]

There's a Professor at Georgia State U whose research specialization is poly. She's completing a longitudinal study on children of poly families, but it hasn't been published yet. She might have some ideas for you on what is out there comparing Poly to Feminist Theory.

I'm working on Religion papers at the moment and actively avoiding the fact that I have to delve into Feminist theory to work on Feminism in the anabaptist expression of religion. Today, I have the flu. I'm already working on an extension on this project, so I'm going to give myself today to be sick. I raided my Dad's Religion stuff (that's his area of expertise). He would die if I asked him about poly stuff though Hazard of his being both a Sociologist AND an Ordained Mennonite Minister.

[OpenandCountry]

Man. we got out of classes last week, but I feel your pain! I turned in a total of 46 pages last week between all my classes.
I've never written about poly, though.