Reading while “dissertating”
Repost from April 11, 2024
Growing up, I wasn't the biggest fan of reading. When given the choice to read or watch TV, I always chose the latter. In elementary, I often lied about the number of pages I read in weekly reading logs. By middle school, I skimmed chapters and didn't care if I missed important details. This attitude stuck with me for most of high school, too; that is, until my senior English teacher — shout out to Jim Slagel! — changed my paradigm about reading forever. His pedagogy fostered an appreciation for literature by challenging students to find philosophical meaning, relevance, and application in texts. Moreover, he helped me see that reading and writing go hand in hand, and as someone who loves to write, I learned to view reading as a manifestation of a writer's craft.
Needless to say, now, I am a huge fan of reading. Since coming back home to gather data for my dissertation, I have spent the majority of my free time reading fiction and non-fiction books. From September 2023 to March 2024, I can proudly say that this former bibliophobe has made it through 50 books. For the most part, I've read books that touch on issues of race, racism, and internalized oppression in alignment with my dissertation. However, I've also read "classic" books for young adults that I never read as a child or teenager.
Consequently, reading while dissertating has been a cathartic experience. Most of the books, by nature, are emotionally heavy. Racism and oppression are not "light" topics to read and process. I carry the weight of numerous authors' words in my daily practice. Some days I don't have any energy left to write. Reflection alone is enough. Other days I feel motivated to revise a manuscript or outline a new paper.
To PhD students, I recommend reading books while dissertating. In addition to expanding my knowledge of fiction authors, this experience has helped me deepen my relationship with my dissertation.
Most recently, I've finished my first read of Ernest J. Gaines' novel A Lesson before Dying (1993). As a former high-school teacher and current educational coach for community college students, I resonate with the protagonist's self-doubt about his efficacy in the classroom. Even now, as I dissertate, there are moments when I think, "What am I doing? ... Am I doing anything?" (p. 62). In this case, reading has inspired opportunities for introspection.
Currently, I am reading Sandra Cisneros' book The House on Mango Street (1984). The introduction alone is powerful and unsettling for a graduate student hoping to move people through words. I, too, want to build "a house of my own" (p. xi). At times, dissertating has felt isolating. In these solitary moments, like Cisneros, I've been able to focus on learning and growing through reading. In academia, scholars may disregard fiction texts, but in reality, countless novels by Writers of Color are informed by lived experiences of families and communities. As a result, reading while dissertating has helped me consider the art of storytelling. It reminds me of the humanity behind writing, and the connections that I hope to foster with readers one day.
If you have recommendations for me to read, click here to add them to my bookshelf.
Recent Reads
Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom by bell hooks
Protecting the promise: Indigenous education between mothers and their children by Timothy San Pedro
The autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism by Derrick Bell
Mountain movers: Student activism and the emergence of Asian American studies edited by Russell Jeung, Karen Umemoto, Harvey Dong, Eric Mar, Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani, & Arnold Pan
Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The round house by Louise Erdrich
There there by Tommy Orange
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
References
Cisneros, S. (2009). The house on mango street: 25th anniversary edition. Vintage Books.
Gaines, E. J. (1994). A lesson before dying: Vintage contemporaries edition. Vintage Books.
