A week and a little bit more ...
I got all three signatures on my orals outline and turned it in on that Thursday. All three professors say my argument looks good, and that my evidence makes sense. There was slight confusion as to whether I had the proper idea for the definition of "sublimate." Once it was established that I was working with the correct idea, it was smooth sailing.
Gonna cut loose with my specific oral exam thesis and topic up in here. So before I mentioned that I'm studying the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and Cuba. More specifically I am studying the existence of women's organizations and feminism in the early communist governments of these nations. My specific argument is that women's rights were a derivative and secondary concern to the leaders of the assorted communist movements. This was derived partially from the communist manifesto and Marx, but Engel did write much more on the state of women's rights and the state of the family. Anyhow, as it was a secondary concern women's organizations arose primarily for two reasons, 1) to include women in the revolution. 2) To seclude women away from the central and power bases of their respective governments. The organizations functioned as their own miniature governments specifically for women. While they did serve to educate women and provide a way for women to lobby the government for rights, they were primarily secondary organizations. The one exception to this was in Cuba, where a women's organization was not immediately formed due to lack of forethought or oversight. One was eventually formed at the behest of Castro in reaction to a more radical population. As for feminism, in the USSR and PRC it was seen as classist and bourgeois. Many leaders in the women's organizations were feminists, but were forced to repress their own thoughts, lest they be seen as enemies of the "people." As a result, in the USSR and PRC the identity of women became male oriented, whereas in Cuba the identity of women and that of men remained wildly seperate. Currently I'm reading the translated diary of Allexandra Kollontai. She was the leader of the zhentondel, the USSR's women's organization. Her diary is a perfect example of the repression of feminism during a time when women's rights were being further promoted. Even when speaking of women's rights, she censored herself when she began speaking on specifically feminist issues.
As for my written field exam... well there has been positive development. It turns out the professor I originally took the classes with will be formulating my questions; not the visiting professor who teaches the same subjects. I like the guy, but he does not quite compare. Two of the three questions I will have to answer (approximately): 1) Was Christianity "successful" by 1600? 2) How did the common people express and exorcise power in their daily lives? Seriously, these are awesome questions for me. Now I just have to study!
Additionally, my tenure as caretaker of Oreo the rat has come to a close. He gave me little trouble, but went after the dictionary holding his cage shut. I shall miss him... sorta. It will be much easier to get to sleep when my sleep schedule does not match up with his. Several strange dreams too.
1) A rifle and hand to hand vs. a quadruped mech and hand to hand combat on a hill field lined with thick forrest.
2) A surreal jaunt through my alternate version Whitman leading into a journy up stairs into somone's room... and a tea party O-o?
3) A "continuation" of the zombie apocalypse dream. So far, I had lived through the apocalypse, and after things had settled down, I had gone exploring for a cause, and I had seen the initial evactuation that got me from where it started, to LA where I spent most of my time surviving. Well, I finally had the dream that showed me where it all started, and why the initial evac was to LA in the first place.
Gonna cut loose with my specific oral exam thesis and topic up in here. So before I mentioned that I'm studying the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and Cuba. More specifically I am studying the existence of women's organizations and feminism in the early communist governments of these nations. My specific argument is that women's rights were a derivative and secondary concern to the leaders of the assorted communist movements. This was derived partially from the communist manifesto and Marx, but Engel did write much more on the state of women's rights and the state of the family. Anyhow, as it was a secondary concern women's organizations arose primarily for two reasons, 1) to include women in the revolution. 2) To seclude women away from the central and power bases of their respective governments. The organizations functioned as their own miniature governments specifically for women. While they did serve to educate women and provide a way for women to lobby the government for rights, they were primarily secondary organizations. The one exception to this was in Cuba, where a women's organization was not immediately formed due to lack of forethought or oversight. One was eventually formed at the behest of Castro in reaction to a more radical population. As for feminism, in the USSR and PRC it was seen as classist and bourgeois. Many leaders in the women's organizations were feminists, but were forced to repress their own thoughts, lest they be seen as enemies of the "people." As a result, in the USSR and PRC the identity of women became male oriented, whereas in Cuba the identity of women and that of men remained wildly seperate. Currently I'm reading the translated diary of Allexandra Kollontai. She was the leader of the zhentondel, the USSR's women's organization. Her diary is a perfect example of the repression of feminism during a time when women's rights were being further promoted. Even when speaking of women's rights, she censored herself when she began speaking on specifically feminist issues.
As for my written field exam... well there has been positive development. It turns out the professor I originally took the classes with will be formulating my questions; not the visiting professor who teaches the same subjects. I like the guy, but he does not quite compare. Two of the three questions I will have to answer (approximately): 1) Was Christianity "successful" by 1600? 2) How did the common people express and exorcise power in their daily lives? Seriously, these are awesome questions for me. Now I just have to study!
Additionally, my tenure as caretaker of Oreo the rat has come to a close. He gave me little trouble, but went after the dictionary holding his cage shut. I shall miss him... sorta. It will be much easier to get to sleep when my sleep schedule does not match up with his. Several strange dreams too.
1) A rifle and hand to hand vs. a quadruped mech and hand to hand combat on a hill field lined with thick forrest.
2) A surreal jaunt through my alternate version Whitman leading into a journy up stairs into somone's room... and a tea party O-o?
3) A "continuation" of the zombie apocalypse dream. So far, I had lived through the apocalypse, and after things had settled down, I had gone exploring for a cause, and I had seen the initial evactuation that got me from where it started, to LA where I spent most of my time surviving. Well, I finally had the dream that showed me where it all started, and why the initial evac was to LA in the first place.