Do dissertations evolve? Maybe they die and are reborn, in a sort of phoenix motif? Or is that just the "positive spin" I'm putting on a project that has undergone massive changes in the past month?
The project started out as an examination of space as an influence on human behavior, looking at the interstate highway system in modern American cities as the test case. As I was working through this, and having meetings (seriously: I am the master of the meeting now. I'm talked to almost every American political scientist here, a few political theorists, plus geographers, historians, sociologists, and economists about this damn thing now) a problem came up. The fact of the matter is that I was *this close* to being "gimmicky." The problem is that "interstates in the city and space" is not really an established political science narrative. The danger I was in was writing an interesting, quirky dissertation about interstates .... that didn't link up to a bigger, relevant political question.
That sent me back to the drawing board.
What I've come up with is a dissertation on federalism. Now, the implicit question is: How has the national government's power to shape space or the landscape changed/grown/whatever over the past two centuries? There's already a pretty established story how the administrative/bureaucratic power of the state has grown. It begins right around the Civil War, increases with WWI, and of course takes off in the Depression and post-WWII. But, there is less (read: no) discussion of how the national government's capacity to shape its own territory, at least vis-a-vis state and local governments, has changed.
Here's the rub: I could do this dissertation badly, and assert "Pre-WWII the national government did little with space. Then you get the interstate, and now Washington D.C. is in the business of reworking the American landscape." But that's just pretty much an a-temporal fiction.
What this means is that NOW my dissertation is about the national government and infrastructure, considering how Washington's capacity to shape space via construction projects has changed over time. There are three distinct case studies, each relating to the major infrastructe project occuring at three distinct phases of American history: canals and harbors in the early Republic, railroads in the middle Republic, and the contemporary instance of interstates. In each case, I would need to consider the policies that Washington had towards each type of project, and the political/ideological conflicts that revolved around those projects. The mirror to that question is then: what impact did each type of project have on economics, Western settlement, and political fortunes?
Of course, that's FAR too big of a dissertation. As it is, my historical work will be really cursory (but I'm a political scientist, so hstorians can bite me). I'll probably lop off the second half (the impact of the infrastructure), and just focus on the policy-and-politicking one right now. I think the "impact" question will show back up for the book.
These changes have led to at least three results. First, a lot of tension (will this still be done in the spring?). Second, a flurry of reading (I know little about federalism, American history, canals, or railroads). And, three, a lot of *excitement.* I like this dissertation topic. A lot. A lot more than my old one.
God my life is ridiculous. But what the fuck else is this much fun?
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The project started out as an examination of space as an influence on human behavior, looking at the interstate highway system in modern American cities as the test case. As I was working through this, and having meetings (seriously: I am the master of the meeting now. I'm talked to almost every American political scientist here, a few political theorists, plus geographers, historians, sociologists, and economists about this damn thing now) a problem came up. The fact of the matter is that I was *this close* to being "gimmicky." The problem is that "interstates in the city and space" is not really an established political science narrative. The danger I was in was writing an interesting, quirky dissertation about interstates .... that didn't link up to a bigger, relevant political question.
That sent me back to the drawing board.
What I've come up with is a dissertation on federalism. Now, the implicit question is: How has the national government's power to shape space or the landscape changed/grown/whatever over the past two centuries? There's already a pretty established story how the administrative/bureaucratic power of the state has grown. It begins right around the Civil War, increases with WWI, and of course takes off in the Depression and post-WWII. But, there is less (read: no) discussion of how the national government's capacity to shape its own territory, at least vis-a-vis state and local governments, has changed.
Here's the rub: I could do this dissertation badly, and assert "Pre-WWII the national government did little with space. Then you get the interstate, and now Washington D.C. is in the business of reworking the American landscape." But that's just pretty much an a-temporal fiction.
What this means is that NOW my dissertation is about the national government and infrastructure, considering how Washington's capacity to shape space via construction projects has changed over time. There are three distinct case studies, each relating to the major infrastructe project occuring at three distinct phases of American history: canals and harbors in the early Republic, railroads in the middle Republic, and the contemporary instance of interstates. In each case, I would need to consider the policies that Washington had towards each type of project, and the political/ideological conflicts that revolved around those projects. The mirror to that question is then: what impact did each type of project have on economics, Western settlement, and political fortunes?
Of course, that's FAR too big of a dissertation. As it is, my historical work will be really cursory (but I'm a political scientist, so hstorians can bite me). I'll probably lop off the second half (the impact of the infrastructure), and just focus on the policy-and-politicking one right now. I think the "impact" question will show back up for the book.
These changes have led to at least three results. First, a lot of tension (will this still be done in the spring?). Second, a flurry of reading (I know little about federalism, American history, canals, or railroads). And, three, a lot of *excitement.* I like this dissertation topic. A lot. A lot more than my old one.
God my life is ridiculous. But what the fuck else is this much fun?
********************************************************************************************************************
My Weekly Artist Chart
My Weekly Track Chart
My Overall Artist Chart
My Overall Track Chart
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
aspasia:
What campus are you on? I was at UChicago shooting photos around 2ish and then again at 5:15sih.
aspasia:
Then you probably did see me. I was all in black yesterday. 