Reshuffling the Deck

Like so many things in life, life as a graduate students comes with its ups and downs, and sometimes even the downs and downs. More often than not, this blog has served as more of a place to vent than a place to reflect upon my work and research - which is part of the research process I'm sure. What I find amusing (which is code for frustrating) is that actually working on the dissertation isn't as maddening as the politics that accompany the entire project.

Well, enough is enough.

That's about all I can say right now, but I'm hoping for some positive things to happen in the next few days. I can only hope and keep my fingers crossed, but I'm going to be optimistic. In addition, I'm making phone calls to potential research sites tomorrow with the hopes of setting up interviews during my trip to Wales over spring break. It will be difficult since school will be out while I'm there, but I only need a handful of 30+ minute interviews, so I'm trying to be positive. In any case, I need to get to bed.

One more thing though, before I go. I was reading today about "hidden transcripts" in terms of performance. I don't have the authors' names right now, but in short, hidden transcripts are constructed and performed against the dominant identity-type. For instance, some students may adopt a particular performance in order to "survive," while at the same time they actually oppose the role (and the powers that perpetuate that role). I started to think about this in terms of the Welsh identity and the English students I interviewed. In the UK, I would argue that the Welsh identity is a marginalized identity. In Wales, while Welsh is the dominant identity, it is still marginalized at large in the UK - there is a certain tension within Welshness that is communicated in Wales. It is dominant, but not dominating - if that makes sense.

In any case, at schools which embrace the Curriculum Cymreig and help students in representing and performing that identity, some English students (like many of those I spoke with) despise Wales and Welshness. However, they are complicit with representations of Welshness in order to maintain grades and fit in socially. What I find interesting is that in other instances of "hidden transcripts" the subordinate student is performing the dominant identity and aligning with the hidden transcripts of the less-dominant identity as a form of opposition. However, in Wales, the English identity is the hidden transcript in opposition to the Welsh identity, HOWEVER, the English identity is still the dominant identity. It is the identity in which all other notions of Welshness are measured against. Well, that's a generalization, but it carries some weight.

In short, and while I haven't really been able to sit down and work this out, I'm interesting in understanding how hidden transcripts relate to power struggles over identity in schools, especially when the hidden transcript is a dominant script written in opposition to a non-dominant script that is performed locally with more political power, but less political sway overall.

It's 12:18 AM - I'll see if this makes sense after a good night's rest.