Workshop: Transforming your dissertation into a book

Sponsored by AIIS, AIPS, AIBS, AISLS

Sponsored by the several organizations devoted to the study of South Asia, this workshop aims to help a select number of recent PhDs re-vision their doctoral dissertations as books. Applications to participate are due by June 15, 2009, emailed to Susan S. Wadley, sswadley [at] syr [dot] edu. Participants must arrange their own transport to Madison, Wisconsin for the Annual Conference on South Asia in October. The workshop will begin at 7 pm Wednesday evening, Oct. 21 , and all participants are expected to be present at this time. The relevant "country" organization will pay for the extra night (Wed.) in the Concourse Hotel, as well as snacks and dinner on Thurs. Lunch on Thurs. is on your own.

For selection: Required is an email containing a current cv; the dissertation abstract, its table of contents, and its first chapter plus a not more than 3 page double spaced vision of the "book". This could include (in the three pages) a new table of contents. Email to sswadley [at] syr [dot] edu by midnight on June 15, 2009.

Senior Faculty Participants: Susan S. Wadley (Anthropology, Syracuse), Convener; Geraldine Forbes (History, SUNY Oswego) , Kalyani Menon (Religion, DePaul), John Echeverri-Gent (Political Science, Virginia). Our role is to read the materials prior to the meeting and be prepared to intervene and comment, "in the background" primarily, though with key interventions as needed.

Organization:

Wednesday evening:

7-9 Introductions plus discussion by one or two recent successful authors of the transformation process (Kalyani Menon and tba), plus "pairing assignments" for Thursday's discussion.

Thursday morning is divided into 8 half-hour segments for discussion of the 8 projects (plus two 15 minute breaks). For each half-hour session, one participant will have been assigned on Wednesday evening to make a 5 minute presentation of someone else's project-preferably how that individual would revise the dissertation, and the key themes to be emphasized. During the remaining 25 minutes of that session, all of the other participants join in discussing the project -- except the project's author, who is not allowed to speak. The author of the project under discussion can only listen, take notes, even record, how their project is being understood, mis-understood, stretched, queried, and critiqued by knowledgeable peers with closely related interests, but working in varying theoretical perspectives, disciplines, time periods, etc.

On Thursday afternoon/evening, each participant is given a 40 minute time slot to respond to the more important queries, issues, and suggestions raised in the morning, and, most important, to seek feedback or further discussion of areas of their projects with which they recognize they are having difficulty.

We will take an hour break for dinner Thursday evening before continuing the final two discussions after dinner.

Conversations can carry over into Friday and Saturday at the South Asia Conference!