Day 20, 21

Took a break from my current research to look up more material for the other project I’m involved in, it’s refreshing to jump from one thing to another, at least it’s one way of making sure I don’t become too involved with one thing and lose interest or momentum. Furthermore, I think it’s best if I get the chance to step back and analyse everything  I’ve uncovered so far so I don’t lose sight of the big picture, so to speak. I believe there’s nothing worse than getting caught up in every little detail, for fear I should overlook some essential information.

 

Day 19

Got busy with some articles I found on advertising and religion (some of them reflect on Eliade, some offer information which could help me develop in a different direction). It’s quite difficult not to let myself get completely caught up in one person’s views and consider them to be infallible, but I am aware that reasearch does not mean one merely gathers informaton and sticks it together to form a paper, rather it must be thoroughly processed and disected, analysed and interpreted and then come up with a new opinion on the matter. Of course, this does not mean that strong evidence needn’t be put forward to support any claims (even if they do contradict one theorist or another).

(A really good source of reading material can be found in the bibliography sections of these articles).

Day 18

Read more on Eliade, obviously to better understand what I had learnt from the talk I had the day before. Also turned to Jung again, as he, unlike Freud, does not set everything in the telluric and his concepts of the archetypes and collective unconscious resonate with Eliade’s theory of the camouflaged sacred.

Also did some reading from “Advertising as Religion”, which had some references to Eliade which I found useful, but overall the analysis centres around Marx’s ideas and, while I think that could be used as a starting point, I don’t consider it to be of great importance to my project.

Day 17

Spent the day having a very interesting and insightful conversation about Eliade and his theories on the sacred and the profane with one of my former teachers who is now studying for her PhD. (also on Eliade) in Cardiff. I believe I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to have a discussion with someone who not only shares my passion for the Romanian historian of religions, but who also has more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the subject. I must admit that she informed me of things I had not yet read about and which, I feel, are essential to my research.

Day 16

As I said, I read through Freud and some articles related to him. I find them particularly helpful as the relevant information is concentrated into a single academic paper, which makes things easier for me as I don’t necessarily have to plough through Freud’s original work (although I still did).

His ideas on fetishes works particularly well with what Williams wrote in “Decoding Advertisements” and are, again, related to my research because, as Eliade says, it is not only acts, but objects which double sacred artefacts, essentially creating a speculum mundi (which is what ads may do: representing the gods and / or sacred objects so that people may mimic them and escape to the sacred time, where life acquires a meaning). Everything’s a fetish with Freud, that’s why I like Jung more, he’s not so tangled up in sexuality and deviation.

Day 15

Broke out Baudrillard and read through his views on postmodernism which propose that people can no longer benefit from a stable identity which they would be endowed with by being part of a social group (family, community, religious group, etc.). However, people do fashion a new identity for themselves (or at least attribute meanings to their rather unstable one) by utilising the symbolic meanings of consumer goods.

Read through Eliade again, this time his “Myths, Dreams and Mysteries” as well as “The Myth of the Eternal Return”, gathered more information on the reasoning behind the theory. Also, looks like I’ll have to read up on Wiliamson and Freud.

Day 14

Back to Eliade today, as I wanted to get a better understanding of what he calls the sacred and profane. Essentially, man manages to escape profane time (historic time, which is cyclic and in which he is trapped) into sacred time by imitating the acts that gods / heroes performed in illo tempore, or by being next to sacred places / objects which have the potency to homogenise the world around them. Thus, man manages to escape to sacred time. Now, when people buy items, they do it because they are more interested in what the item can endow them with, what attributes it can bestow upon them (as can be sometimes seen at ridiculous scales in some ads).

For example, I become like David Beckham if I buy his perfume, i.e. if I imitate him, perform the same rituals as him (wear the perfume), so my life gains a new meaning, has a new direction, it now has a point of reference. The same stands for archaic man, whose actions were only valid if they imitated the initial acts that the gods / heroes performed ab initio, when they were the most potent.

Day 13

As it was expected, it is not enough to read Eliade alone. Found references to Jung in his work, so I’ve decided to take a little detour to freshen up on his theories regarding religion and what mythical remnants have survived in the modern world.

The problem with Jung is that, while he is very compelling, he can be a bit difficult to read at times. A lot of the information needs to be filtered before I choose what is most relevant to my needs. Despite this, he does offer some interesting concepts on archaic versus modern man. One bit of theory in particular I found very useful, namely how the inner, unconscious drama of the psyche becomes accessible to the conscious through projection in a variety of things, for example natural events. This can be seen as one of the roots of religion (in its primitive state, at least), and is useful for me.

Day 12

Started with Eliade’s “The Myths of the Modren World” which intially gave me the idea for my research project. I find it tantalisingly difficult not to write down everything I read, but I suppose this will teach me how to be selective and only use that which is essential for my paper. So far it supports my theory, as Eliade suggests that mythical themes have survived into the modern world, but are harder to recognise because of the process of laicisation they went through. Day well spent reading through Eliade.

Day 11

Started work on my own research project, which will be based on Mircea Eliade’s (historian of religion and philosohper) ideas of the sacred and the profane. I will try to determine if people in the secularised society add meaning to their life by buying advertised products because they feel they can acquire this meaning by essentially imitating the acts of the gods (the users of the products in the ads being the new gods), as Eliade suggests in his work. Incredibly excited to be working on my own little project!

Days 7, 8, 9, 10

Four full days of transcribing previously recorded interviews. It might not sound very entertaining, but there is something to be learnt from doing all this.

For instance, I continuously observed how the questions were not very direct or strict in terms of how they could be answered (no plain “yes or no” questions). I understood how interviews must not be conducted in such a way as to coerce the participants to answer in a certain way (a way that would support the theory of the research project), instead the interviewees must be allowed to expand on their own answers and offer valuable insight which afterwards must be analysed thoroughly. It is no simple task, conducting an interview in such a way as to get to the point of the discussion without influencing the subjects into answering as hoped.

Minor problem with transcribing as some interviewees are not fluent in English and because of this there might be issues understanding the recording. It was also difficult to tell voices apart at times, so I had to re-listen certain bits to make sure I identify the interviewees correctly.

Days 5 and 6

Was asked to carry out research on the three main fields at the convergence of which the topic of the research project lies. So before going into the particular (as I stared off), it is first necessary to understand the general, that is, look at the big picture and understand how the general circumstances come together to influence one particular field.

Researched the influences of the media on the desire to undertake plastic surgery, plastic surgery in general and the general view on it and medical tourism at large. As I’ve said, these fields are quite wide and there is a wealth of information which must be analysed. Interesting to see how one can extract what is essential to the project from articles or books which deal with a more general or wider view on the topic.

Day 4

Presented information to Dr. JongMi Kim and discussed the findings. I also understood how other academic papers can not only confirm or support a theory, but can also offer a new perspective on the issue and present an alternate direction the project could follow.

Day 3

Carried out a bit of research on my own regarding the particular field we were interested in (that is, how South Korean media influences the demand for plastic surgery in China).  Realised that it is important to gather information from a wide range of sources so my research can be as exhaustive as possible. This means that books are not enough, rather articles and academic papers help complete the quantum of information. Additionally, the more recent the publications, the better, as it is paramount to observe recent developments or theories within the field, so that the project is relevant once completed.

Day 2

Day 2 in which I observed an interview between Dr. JongMi Kim and two Chinese students. It lasted for approximately an hour and while it was unfolding I was asked to take notes and observe the process of carrying out an interview as well as summarise the two students’ answers. After the interview was finished, Dr. JongMi Kim and I discussed the findings. Discovered how important it is not to get carried away and believe the answers received thoroughly support the initial hypothesis of the research project, rather that it is better to carefully analyse them and objectively determine how much they support the theory and how much strays away from it.

Day 1

Day 1 in which I approached Dr. JongMi Kim and expressed my interest in aiding her with her research project. Had an interesting conversation in which she explained the topic of her project and what my role would be. I understood that, as I have no previous experience, I could not propose what direction should be taken in the development of the project once data has been acquired, but I could help in obtaining and analysing it.

Change

Change

Joyce

Deco Penguin