I didn’t go anywhere over the break, aside from a one night Christmas bus trip to Hamilton, because I wanted to use the time to advance my dissertation project. Important progress has been made on that front, with my committee now in agreement about what the chapters should be, which questions each should seek to answer, what my hypotheses are, and what evidence supports them. I wish I had gotten more done in terms of booking more interviews and transcribing handwritten notes from the ones that already happened, but at least with only one TA position this term I will have more time to devote to those tasks.
I have a stack of exams to grade before the term begins, which will have to be a big focus during the next few days, as distasteful and tedious an activity as it always is.
I’m excited that I’ve been given permission to audit Professor Diana Fu’s “Contentious Politics and Social Movements” course. That’s the main scholarly literature I am drawing upon in my analysis of the campus fossil fuel divestment movement in Canada so it will be great to learn more about it from an expert, go through some important readings on the subject, and discuss it all with some fellow students.