Friday, October 21

I got a package from Vancouver in the mail today which is very well appreciated. My mother sent me a coffee press and a pound of coffee. I am now decidedly well prepared for coffee accelerated reading and caffeine-bolstered comprehension.

Today's lecture on the advanced study of IR was really excellent. It was a presentation by Dr. Marc Stears about ideological and historical approaches to political theory. It was about two schools of textual interpretation in political theory: the Cambridge School and the Ideological School, based in Oxford. Basically, each tries to address questions about which texts we need to study, how we should go about doing it, and how we should write about texts. Each is based on the perspective that all writing that seeks to forward political ends can be viewed as 'speech acts' and need to be evaluated according to the context in which they were written and the intentions of the author. Decidedly not post-modernist (since it embraces, rather than rejects, authorial intentionality), it nonetheless seems like a useful way to think about texts. Some of my enthusiasm definitely derives from the rhetorical skill of Dr. Stears, who was probably the most effective lecturer we have had in the program so far. If the opportunity arises to see him speak again, I will take it up. Also, I've added Quentin Skinner's Visions of Politics to my discretionary reading list.

I learned today that, in addition to the paper which I need to write for Dr. Hurrell in the next nine days, I am supposed to write a paper for the core seminar instructors, due on the Tuesday of 4th week. Worse, it is means to be written on one of the topics for which I did not prepare a presentation. That means I have to do another whole week's worth of reading. Given that I now have Charles Feinstein's The European Economy Between the Wars, Patricia Clavin's The Great Depression in Europe, 1929-1939, and E.H. Carr's The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939 on two day loan, I think I will have plenty of motivation to start drawing down my newfound strategic coffee supply.

Having dinner with Emily tonight was most enjoyable. We ended up having dinner, and later going to the Green College bar, with Roham and some of the other members of the M.Phil program. Roham is an extremely personable young man - good natured and somehow capable of enlivening those around him, while making everyone feel comfortable. Both individually and as a pair, he and Emily make for superb company.

Dinner at St. Antony's is quite a different affair from the process at Wadham. It's cafeteria style, to begin with, and includes much more selection that at Wadham, where a binary meat/vegetable decision is all the choice you get. They also have the benefit of a salad bar, the opportunity to get beverages apart from water with your meal, and a more flexible timetable with regards to when you can eat. They even have candles. Wadham may be closer to the authentic medieval hall-dining experience, but I don't think I would be opting out of all meals at St. Antony's.

After dinner, coffee in the MCR, and a brief foray to Emily's room, we set off on a short walk to the interesting grounds of Green College. In particular, I found the observatory buildings which I located while wandering outside to be quite interesting. The bar itself was noisy, though not crassly so, and seemed to have reasonably priced drinks and good conversations ongoing within. Emily and I ended up staying until a bit before 10:30, when it seemed wiser to retire to respective colleges for reading or sleep.

With two papers to be done in the next two weeks, I've the feeling this will be a bit of a grinding period. I just need to develop a schedule that meets out productivity and recovery in doses of the right size, to maintain both forward motion and sanity.

Tomorrow, we have our second quantitative methods lab. Infinitely more appealing, Margaret has invited me to a wine tasting event. The description which she has passed on from her college is too good not to quote here:

When this was suggested, the economist in the room at the time said something about demand, supply and why bad things happen when prices are set at zero. I didn't really understand it, but I retorted that we shouldn't worry because most students at Nuffield are quantitative social scientists and therefore don't have any friends, wine-drinking or otherwise. As a result, I have been sent to my room to think about what I've done. On the upside, this means that there will be (marginally) more wine available tomorrow for you and your (sensible and not excessive number of) guests.

One one final note (these entries are getting too long as it is), I realized today that I haven't been more than three kilometres from where I sit right now for nearly a month. A trip somewhere - with London the obvious choice - seems to be in order. Do any of the Oxfordians who seem to be reading the blog share my desire for some kind of short expedition?

Posted by Milan at 12:01 AM