Category: research

  • academic essentials list

    academic essentials list

    I am always mildly annoyed by the fact that while GQ would have a bunch of smart rappers, actors, and even artists for their 10 essentials but a writer has never really been invited to talk about their essentials. More so than ever, academics—poor souls who live most their lives stuck to their computers these days—really need listicles that do some amount of infotainment for them. So, here we are, unprompted by GQ, about the 10 essentials I (PhD candidate and caffeine lark) swear by:

    Computer
    I know this as someone who, until recently, had a computer that barely lasted a few hours, had odd quirks like not sleeping but shutting down etc., that a good computer will really change your work life. And yes, that may mean offloading your computer of all the bloatware (Reset that work PC!), using your university discounts to buy a new computer, or simply lighter apps (Foxit Reader over Adobe Reader DC!). But yes, get yourself a computer that works.

    The Stationery
    This is an easy one. But have a note-taking system. I have a friend who buys A5 paper in bulk and has a binder system that helps them stay organised, while I have become a full-on Leuchtturm1917 Notebook hoarder who notes everything down in those things because they have page numbers and I like to have that kind of order in my life. Point is, you will need a note-system that works for you. It ought to be simple and not something that you tweak with every two months. Get a reliable pen as well (a Pilot G2 can be refilled and has a great grip; or get a Kaweco Perkeo if you like fountain pens) and you are good to go.

    Hoodie + the “good” shirt
    Depending on what your pandemic work situation is, you will need a comfortable working clothes situation since you will be spending ages in front of a computer or in person. Get a comfortable hoodie. Definitely get the “good” shirt (Muji linen shirts go well) for the occasional meeting that needs a decent presentation.

    Tech Gear
    At the moment, having a computer does not mean that you have all that you need. So you need more tech gear to make sure that you have all that you need for the semester ahead. Get a second screen (a monitor if you need a big one; a tablet if you are like me and read a lot of PDFs). Some people will also go for the laptop stand and the docking station. Basically, get everything that you need for your workflow. I make do with an older tablet and a computer.

    Drinkables
    Stay hydrated. No matter what you are working on, the academic lifestyle seems to promote an unhealthy lifestyle to go with your imposter syndrome. Fight that urge, drink your water, tea, and coffee. Find the best tea that you like. On some days, the tea and your favourite blanket is all that you will have that will bring you comfort.

    Cheap Pleasures
    Have cheap pleasures. Mine is buying myself flowers before I start working on a chapter. It does not always have to be the most beautiful flowers but I like the ritual of it. Some days the rituals of things will be the nicest thing that you will do all day as you work on something difficult.

    The Right Software
    As important as getting the right computer. Use the university licenses and get Endnote or Citavi for references. Use a note-taking sofware (I wrote a whole thing about it once). I still use Standard Notes but they have raised their prices now. Bear Notes is a good alternative if you are using MacOS, if you are on Windows, Simplenote seems to be nice.
    I have also gone back to using Todoist for their better free features recently. You will be juggling quite a few things. So use something that helps you track things well.

    The Library Card
    This sounds stupid but, yes, use the library. From the city library that will scan, print, and do inter-library loans for cheap to the national library that will always have a good rate for students, libraries are great. They will sometimes also have free streaming services like Kanopy and audiobooks for free like Libby. Don’t hand all your money to Audible or Netflix. Save your monies.

    The Reads
    Read the right things. Which is basically code for, don’t stop reading. Academia is a lot of reading but reading is also a nice way to unwind and find inspiration. So make sure to get the reads in. That is also code for, always read for pleasure 🙂

    Totem
    This will sound a little esoteric but this is where I am at the moment, have a totem. Basically, have a way of doing a small thing that makes your space your own. That may include: drinking from the same coffee mug, or burning the same candle (my choice), or something small. But have a signal that tells your brain, now I am doing X, and not Y. Helps keeping me in check.

    So there it is. My grand listicle.

  • archive day 1

    archive day 1

    lessons from day one at the Marbach archive

    – The thing that you are looking for may not actually be there but it is more important to understand why is it that it is not there. What do you do with the things you find there?
    – The archive is a curated experience. What are the relations between the things you find and the thing you don’t?
    – trace the archival networks and understand why some gaps remain. Think of the incommensurable. Think from the gaps.

  • some concrete poetry

    I am preparing for the archive visit that starts tomorrow and found myself trawling through (what else?) the immense data of JStor to look for stuff on Carl Weissner. And out of nowhere the fabulous concrete poetry journal came to the screen. Two poems that caught my eye:

    line from a lazy concrete poet
    monsoooooooooon by T.L. Kryss

    more adventures… starting tomorrow.

  • podcast episode + archive visit

    podcast episode + archive visit

    This summer seems far away now that winter is truly upon us here in Berlin. Christmas looks like a quiet affair but I was glad that one is still possible to be able to hold on to some sounds of summer. Like this podcast episode that I worked on, speaking to Zoran Terzić, about memes, the internet, Kafka, and other marvellous beings.

    The only other thing out there on the horizon is a visit to the Deutsches Literaturachiv, based at Marbach am Neckar. With the numbers at an all time high, I am mostly wondering what an archival visit can mean at this point of time, both as an exercise in research work and personally as an accessibility concern (politically and generally).

    In the meantime, one waits for the week to being some answers.

  • objects of research: Titania Palast, Berlin

    objects of research: Titania Palast, Berlin

    A Kino in Berlin

    We begin in a kino (cinema) in Berlin. Post-Berlin is battered and bruised far more than almost any city in the world. The Allies have carved up the city into four administrative zones: the British, French, American, and Russian sectors respectively. This is also where people who are concerned about culture from the Allied sector are wondering how to regenerate “culture” in this city again. Some of them are scheming.

    Berlin, 1945

    To make this more complicated, it would seem like the Allies already have areas of influence that will ultimately result in Berlin being divided between the East and the West, just like Germany itself. This is where West Berlin needs a pick me up. Surrounded by the “East”, West Berlin hosts the first Congress for Cultural Freedom conference on the 26th of June 1950. The venue is Titania Palast.

    Titania Palast is one of those spaces in Berlin that surfaces again and again under the auspices of historical circumstances. It was one of the biggest cinema halls in Berlin when it was inaugurated in 1928. Most people know it today as the cinema where the Americans started the International Berlin Film Festival, better known as the Berlinale, in 1951. It was the spot where the first concert of the Berliner Philharmonie took place after World War II (1945). It is also where the Freie Universität’s “Gründungsversammlung” took place on 4th of December 1948. Much of this is commemorated on a plaque outside.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Gedenktafel_Schlo%C3%9Fstr_4_%28Stegl%29_Titania_Palast.jpg

    This is where the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) begins its work. The Congress itself was attended by quite a few famous writers, philosophers, and “thinkers”; names like Tennessee Williams and Bertrand Russell come up when we look at the list today. What did they do there? They drew up a manifesto against “all encroachments on the creative and critical spirit of man”.

    Since this is during the Cold War, and just after the Berlin Blockade, this well-attended congress in West Berlin is also hinting at the Communists across the border (not far from Titania Palast) who are, then, those who are controlling thought. Declassified documents have of course shown that much of this was funded by the CIA. But at the time, the Congress for Cultural Freedom was the space for culture. And this is where we also meet Mike Josselson.

    Josselson appears in the introduction of Campaigning Culture and the Global Cold War: The Journals of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (edited volume by Giles Scott-Smith and Charlotte A. Lerg) as the enigmatic American of Estonian origin who spoke English, German, French, and Russian. Josselson, who had already been in Germany for interrogations of German POWs, quickly becomes a part of the CCF and starts convincing intellectuals to serve as editors in the global struggle against Marxism/Communism. This was reported by the New York Times in 1966 as well.

    With that background, we land in Bombay.

    Berlin to Bombay

    Bombay was the venue for the second conference of the CCF. Given its Non-Alignment Movement times, it is not surprising that the CIA was worried that “that Indian intellectuals, artists, and writers might also refuse to take sides.” (Pullin 285) Hence, they land in India for the second iteration of the congress.

    Even as I write this, I am not sure of the amount of work that has been done or should be done on Indian poetry’s publication circles and this conference in 1951 (Pullin). The Indian Congress for Cultural Freedom (ICCF) has its own little history that I will not go into. What comes out of this is the Quest magazine, the archive of which lives in a bizarre Freedom First website these days. I have to Eric Pullin’s work here as exemplary in this field and that is who the reader should go for that part. There is also a Graziano Kratli’s essay that touched upon this briefly.

    The part that amused me as I went down this rabbit-hole was to imagine a poetry reading. This is what I will end with.

    It is probably warm as the communist/pacifist Allen Ginsberg starts reading his poetry on the balcony of Ebrahim Alkazi, the Bombay theatre director (Nerlekar 61) in 1962. Not far away, Arthur and Glorya Hale are in their Nariman Point apartment where they await instructions from Harry Rositzke, who was their CIA station chief in Delhi (Kratli 185). Nissim Ezekiel, one of the editors of Quest, publishes almost every poet who was probably there in that Ginsberg poetry reading. Ezekiel does not remain the editor of Quest for a long time. But for that brief moment, Ezekiel is the best fit that Scott-Smith and Lerg write about in their introduction: Journal editors who were “often well-known intellectual personae in their national contexts and beyond, and their public standing both required and allowed them to demonstrate a certain degree of independence from Paris (and of course, from the United States).” (13)

    Curiously, as I start digging into Indian poetry’s publishing circles and connections, I find myself within 20 mins from Titania Palast in Berlin. I take the S-Bahn, across the former borders that divided the East and West sides of Berlin, and end up at a generic Kino in Berlin. There is no sign of the CCF and its history in this place now. They call it Cineplex Titania now. There is a plaque, of course. And as Roman Mars says, always read the plaque.

    Further Reading

    Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer

    Supriya Nair, Publishing Revolutionary Road

    Francis Stoner Saunders, Who Paid the Piper

    Michael Warner, Origins of the CCF

    Giles Scott-Smith and Charlotte A. Lerg (ed.), Global Cold War: Third World Intervention and the Making of the Cold War
    – Eric Pullin, “QUEST: Twenty Years of Cultural Politics”