Return to the (Digitally) Living
Jan. 25th, 2012 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ajnabiehHas it really been that long? Well, my end of semester, like most academics', was packed. Once my grades were turned in, it didn't really get any easier, since I had to finish the final revisions on my dissertation and get it uploaded to ProQuest. However, that is now over--that's right, it's Dr. ajnabieh these days--and I don't have any papers to return until, ugh, Monday, so I guess I can spare a moment for the interwebs.
This semester's teaching is going well; both of my lecture courses are packed, and the students seem at least minimally engaged. (We'll see how they did on today's geography quiz, and on Friday's critical source analyses, I suppose!) I am realizing, slowly, that I can't expect undergraduate students to understand the whole breadth of things "the state" does already, so I have to, you know, explain what tax and divorce policy have to do with the politics of sex and gender (spoiler: everything), rather than them coming up with it on their own. My seminar was so small it almost got cancelled, but it's grown to a good size (5 students), and I'm quite excited to teach it.
My research is also headed in some interesting places--or at least I think they are! In particular, I've been experimenting with Storyful to organize and record data I'm collecting from Twitter on diaspora advocacy for revolutionary transitions in the Arab world. You can see the three Storyfuls I've published so far here; I think the one on Mohja Kahf is particularly interesting. As a corrollary to this, my interest in how we engage politically in online spaces, and what the methodological challenges to studying politics in digital worlds are, has only grown; so, you know, expect me to ramble about this at y'all at some point in the future. (Has anyone read any of the literature on digital ethnographies? Any suggestions?)
What else? Not much. Oh, I have a bunch of images stacked up for posts, both about food, because, well, what else do I write about? And, if you're at all interested in good indie music from the Middle East and North Africa, Mideast Tunes has been providing the soundtrack to my work life lately. I can particularly recommend Hana Malhas, who has a lovely singer-songwriter vibe in both Arabic and English, and Meen, a hip and funky combo with a lot of energy in their songs. They also seem to highlight metal music from the region, so, if that's your bag, there's plenty there for you!
And with that, I leave you--with fashion posts. Since trivial!fashion!blogging is, really, what I excel at.
I have developed the habit of a) wearing scarves a lot and b) tying them in windsor knots. They're like femme ties!
A rainy day last fall, prepping over my lunch break. Note the lovely rain hat. This outfit is a little all over the place (vintage hippie skirt, semi-structured pinstriped blazer, ribbed tanktop), but I suppose it works. I think the Ahmed is holding it all together, don't you think?
This was Monday's outfit. That's my power tie. I thought it was appropriate to wear the day we talked about beauty standards in my feminist theory class, no? The one problem is that, when I take off my jacket, I look the tiniest bit like a waiter.
Blue tights! If anyone has recs for good places to get tights for ladies with big legs (to give you an idea, I should, by height, wear size small tights, but buy large because of my weight, and frequently find them too short), I would love them, because it's like pulling teeth. These are from Target, their housebrand, and were on clearance when I bought them.
ajnabieh these days--and I don't have any papers to return until, ugh, Monday, so I guess I can spare a moment for the interwebs. This semester's teaching is going well; both of my lecture courses are packed, and the students seem at least minimally engaged. (We'll see how they did on today's geography quiz, and on Friday's critical source analyses, I suppose!) I am realizing, slowly, that I can't expect undergraduate students to understand the whole breadth of things "the state" does already, so I have to, you know, explain what tax and divorce policy have to do with the politics of sex and gender (spoiler: everything), rather than them coming up with it on their own. My seminar was so small it almost got cancelled, but it's grown to a good size (5 students), and I'm quite excited to teach it.
My research is also headed in some interesting places--or at least I think they are! In particular, I've been experimenting with Storyful to organize and record data I'm collecting from Twitter on diaspora advocacy for revolutionary transitions in the Arab world. You can see the three Storyfuls I've published so far here; I think the one on Mohja Kahf is particularly interesting. As a corrollary to this, my interest in how we engage politically in online spaces, and what the methodological challenges to studying politics in digital worlds are, has only grown; so, you know, expect me to ramble about this at y'all at some point in the future. (Has anyone read any of the literature on digital ethnographies? Any suggestions?)
What else? Not much. Oh, I have a bunch of images stacked up for posts, both about food, because, well, what else do I write about? And, if you're at all interested in good indie music from the Middle East and North Africa, Mideast Tunes has been providing the soundtrack to my work life lately. I can particularly recommend Hana Malhas, who has a lovely singer-songwriter vibe in both Arabic and English, and Meen, a hip and funky combo with a lot of energy in their songs. They also seem to highlight metal music from the region, so, if that's your bag, there's plenty there for you!
And with that, I leave you--with fashion posts. Since trivial!fashion!blogging is, really, what I excel at.
I have developed the habit of a) wearing scarves a lot and b) tying them in windsor knots. They're like femme ties!
A rainy day last fall, prepping over my lunch break. Note the lovely rain hat. This outfit is a little all over the place (vintage hippie skirt, semi-structured pinstriped blazer, ribbed tanktop), but I suppose it works. I think the Ahmed is holding it all together, don't you think?
This was Monday's outfit. That's my power tie. I thought it was appropriate to wear the day we talked about beauty standards in my feminist theory class, no? The one problem is that, when I take off my jacket, I look the tiniest bit like a waiter.
Blue tights! If anyone has recs for good places to get tights for ladies with big legs (to give you an idea, I should, by height, wear size small tights, but buy large because of my weight, and frequently find them too short), I would love them, because it's like pulling teeth. These are from Target, their housebrand, and were on clearance when I bought them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-25 11:54 pm (UTC)I feel like you should be going punting in that utterly adorable rainy day outfit.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-26 07:25 pm (UTC)Punting! That is exactly what I should be doing! Sigh, for the return of weather that makes our lake here usable...
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-26 04:06 am (UTC)I love your scarves, myself. It's hard for me to distinguish, however, whether I like them in and of themselves, or if I like them because they seem to bring out the bad-ass super-cool academic poses in you in your photos.
Fashion is not trivial in our line of work, I warrant. I constantly feel like I need to put some thought into how to dress the part appropriately. Then again, it may just be that a smattering of queer theory has made me permanently self-conscious about embodied representation.
Ahem. Point is, keep the fashion blogging flowing!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-26 07:48 pm (UTC)Glad to get some outside confirmation that the scarves work...
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-27 03:24 am (UTC)Re: tights .... have you tried sockdreams.com?
-Sisyphus
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-27 05:13 pm (UTC)