Phd Checkpoints As Ceremonies

03-08-24 -
It seems to me that one of the things about a PhD that is unpleasant or that makes things really stressful if the passing though of the formalities. The important checkpoints/ceremonies/rituals of the process that legitimise the work that you have been doing by ‘the academy’. This was affirmed for me when a number of Doctoral school staff talked about the first milestone achievement of the process the Application for Registration (AfR) being ‘a rehearsal’ AfR-as-rehearsal, preparation for the bigger moment the ‘Confirmation’. It struck me the performative connotations of the word rehearsal which leads me to think once again of play.

This leads me also to reflect on Erin Manning’s musings of the classroom being a ‘dramaturgical space’ there seems an inherent performance/play aspect here classroom as dramaturgical site for experimentation

This feels in some ways incredibly archaic and harmful in some ways, as it is so rigid and there seems very little flexibility or adjustments that are made to acknowledge that the world is changing and that we now live in different times. I can acknowledge however that checkpoints can be useful in feeling like you are progressing and marking time/ achievements. Can this be done in better ways?

Nonetheless in order to fulfil the duty of the phd, to succeed - these checkpoints need to reached and fulfilled.

is there a way to gamify this in some way? make it relevant to me in a personal way? or subvert it into a ludicrous but fun moment for me? so that whilst there will still be lots of pressure to pass through this, it will hold special meaning in the context of the study and research path that I am constructing for myseld