This week one of the fantabulous Mama Kat writing prompts is:
What are you reading?
Since I am currently drifting around in ABD (all but dissertation) land, which to you non-academic types means that I'm JUST writing my book, my reading is completely confined to geeky academic stuff. See picture below:
The first book is Immigration Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, and I'm pretty sure the title explains the content well enough.
The second book is Beauftragte der Bundesregierung fuer Migration, Fluechtlinge, und Integration: Ein Handbuch fuer Deutschland. A friend gave this to me years ago, and it is essentially a manual for settling into life in Germany for migrants, refugees, and people who are having trouble "integrating," which is a really fun way to say non-Germans. Each page is half in German and half in English, French, Spanish, Russian, or Turkish, and it is filled with helpful pictures of things like grocery carts and binders.
The third book Auf Zeit. Fuer Immer is a collection of firsthand stories of Turkish immigrants to Germany. I like it, and it helps me keep a little bit of context about the parents of the girls in my study too.
The last book is Geschichte der Deutschen Migration (History of German Migration). This is an historical perspective on Germany in and out migration from the middle ages to now. I need to get into this more for a more thorough perspective, but the writing is pretty dry.
Finally, I have this little pile of articles all about subjective well-being that need to be read and put into an annotated bibliography. Each one of those pink papers is actually a divider between the articles, so I guess the pile isn't really that little.
I'm doing most of this reading during my breaks from transcribing my interviews that I conducted for the dissertation research. I HATE transcribing, so I actually welcome the breaks to read this stuff and then get back to it. This is the life of an ABD.
Step by step, I'll get there.
Step by step, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed with your reading list, and the fact that you're working on your dissertation!
Go. You!!
{P.S. I hate transcribing, too!}
It is a special torture to have to transcribe yourself in your second language and actually type out the mistakes you make too. Thanks for the cheerleading! I need it lately.
DeleteI am impressed! Keep up the good work. It will be over before you know it!
ReplyDeleteTrying to keep the goal in mind instead of getting bogged down in the day to day drudgery. Thanks.
DeleteThose books look sooooo stimulating. Last year I finished an MBA and remember well all of the light reading assigned. When will you be done? Congrats!
ReplyDeleteHoping to defend in the Fall as long as I can keep my nose to the grindstone until then. Thanks and congrats to you on the MBA.
DeleteIt all sounds very interesting - when I was living in London, I did worked a lot with refugees and immigrants (teaching ESL) and found it incredibly rewarding. And from a German perspective, I have several friends who've either studied in Germany, or are currently living/working there. Good luck with your dissertation!
ReplyDeleteI did some ESL tutoring & it was soo much fun! Berlin is such an amazing mix of people just like London in some ways. Thanks for coming by!
Deleteoh wow! looks like you're one busy lady. I wish I could sit down and read!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more time sit down and read too. Usually I'm reading while doing 3 other things at the same time or after the kids are in bed. If only...
DeleteYour reading list is MUCH heavier than mine. I'm envious.
ReplyDeleteHappy to send you some citations if you'd like. ;-)
DeleteThis made me smile! What a great window into your life at the moment. If someone were to look at my current reading list, they would be a bit confused: Chasing Lincoln's Killer, Lincoln - A Photobiography, A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass & Ashtanga Yoga:Practice and Philosophy. Could you figure out my present state of being? LOL!
ReplyDeleteStudying for the Oscars? Oh Yoga! I really need more of that in my life.
DeleteThat's some nice, light reading you have there. You should enjoy those books at the beach with a pina colada.
ReplyDeleteI am currently ignoring my stack of school books and reading Caitlin Moran's "How to be a Woman". It makes me chuckle.
I soo WANT to read that book. It is at the top of my fun list, which I'm not allowed to touch until my dissertation is finished.
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