In the midst of Summer 2011, it's finally time for only the second item of the year. Now that I've been on paternity leave and waiting for the second little one to come since the 4th of July, I've some spare time for an attempt to summarise the past months of 2011:
- lecturing; the course on Population, Urbanisation and Mobility in a slightly altered format, as well as a complete new format for the course on writing a minor academic thesis (B-uppsats). This second course was joined with the former course on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to result in an integrated map-and-report assignment.
- conferences; the final week of the GIS-report course coincided with the 4th biannual Nordic Geographers Meeting (NGM) in Roskilde, Denmark. Thus, this week at the end of May was quite a challenge, where Anders and me found ourselves replying to students' e-mails before breakfast at 7 am in our B&B at the Danish countryside. The other conference was the 6th International Conference on Population Geographies (ICPG) in Umeå with many interesting contributions and a conference diner at the archipelago of Norrbyskär. Next ICPG will be held in Groningen in 2013!
- manuscripts; Mostly during June, I've been writing and editing a number of manuscripts for my Dissertation. The first article, on international counterurbanisation, was in need of minor revisions which were to be done in due time. The second and third articles, on rural place marketing and the decision to migrate from the Netherlands to rural Sweden respectively, are in the course of creation. Last but not least, a chapter on mobility, place and ambivalence is in the making. This manuscript is supposed to be a contribution to an anthology on place and identity, to be published by CUReS. We will have a meeting in Bredsjö in August in order to discuss progression considering the Anthology.
- fieldwork; at the basis for the manuscripts lies fieldwork covering some months and a number of observations and interviews at emigration fairs and with Dutch households in Bergslagen. This fieldwork will be continued after my paternity leave ends in September.
By the way, needless to say that this blog is simply an online diary of a PhD Student in Sweden. For more contents and debates, one may take a look at Bo Malmberg's or Lena Sommestad's weblogs.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Monday, 3 January 2011
New year, new plans
So, and 2011 it is :)
Christmas Holidays went by too fast, as always.
The days before the holidays were hectic, as always.
On 16 December, Mats, Dieter and me had a meeting about our plans and basically we discussed the two articles to come. It was about time to start writing, so this is what I'll do the coming weeks. I'll write about place marketing and public private partnerships (PPP's) in order to have an introduction for the second article. For the third article, the introduction will have to concentrate on the life course perspective and decision making processes. For the planning of the months ahead, this means the following:
First and foremost, I need to finalise the paper for the course on Geographical perspectives on Heritage industries (Swedish abreviation: GPKU) in Central Sweden. This is in fact a warm-up for the two articles to come.
Soon, on 19 January I'll head for the Netherlands in order to visit Placement's Scandinavia Day in Hoevelaken. Here, I'll will mostly observe and study in practice what I've learned about palce marketing techniques so far. In February, the big Emigration Fair is organised in Houten, Utrecht. I'll also visit this fair and observer the stands hold by the Swedish actors and see how they attract hundreds of Dutch families to come and live with them.
Meanwhile, plans are made for fieldwork in March, where I'll finally make my data "talk". I'll conduct semi-structured interviews with a number of Dutch actors in Central Sweden. They should be entrepreneurs, lifestyle migrnats and families. This way, an investigation can be amde of what expectations and aspirations the Swedish municipalities had when starting their Holland-projects. It can also be examined in what way and to what degree these aims are fulfilled. The same goes for the Dutch familes: what goals, and wishes did they have and what are their (post-)migration experiences? This could be supported theoretically by the work of Baumann, Giddens, Urry, Harvey, Lefebvre and the like.
So many other plans exist simultaneously; lecturing in the course on population, urbanisation and mobility, as well as in a course on a project resulting in a socalled B-paper, one level before the Bachelor thesis. In May, there will be a Nordic Geographers meeting in Roskilde, in June tehre will be a meeting for Population Geographers in Umeå. I hope to be able to present some results in connection to the above named articles at both of these confrerences. But first, in February, us geographers in Örebro will host a small workshop for a Swedish network of population geographers.
Also before the holidays, we were a small delegation from Örebro to witness a colleague in Borlänge at the defence of his Dissertation on 17 December. This was very interesting, thinking about my own work ahead. But for now, a slow start is what I want - not many have returned to office after these two weeks. This may facilitate the work on the paper for GPKU.
Christmas Holidays went by too fast, as always.
The days before the holidays were hectic, as always.
On 16 December, Mats, Dieter and me had a meeting about our plans and basically we discussed the two articles to come. It was about time to start writing, so this is what I'll do the coming weeks. I'll write about place marketing and public private partnerships (PPP's) in order to have an introduction for the second article. For the third article, the introduction will have to concentrate on the life course perspective and decision making processes. For the planning of the months ahead, this means the following:
First and foremost, I need to finalise the paper for the course on Geographical perspectives on Heritage industries (Swedish abreviation: GPKU) in Central Sweden. This is in fact a warm-up for the two articles to come.
Soon, on 19 January I'll head for the Netherlands in order to visit Placement's Scandinavia Day in Hoevelaken. Here, I'll will mostly observe and study in practice what I've learned about palce marketing techniques so far. In February, the big Emigration Fair is organised in Houten, Utrecht. I'll also visit this fair and observer the stands hold by the Swedish actors and see how they attract hundreds of Dutch families to come and live with them.
Meanwhile, plans are made for fieldwork in March, where I'll finally make my data "talk". I'll conduct semi-structured interviews with a number of Dutch actors in Central Sweden. They should be entrepreneurs, lifestyle migrnats and families. This way, an investigation can be amde of what expectations and aspirations the Swedish municipalities had when starting their Holland-projects. It can also be examined in what way and to what degree these aims are fulfilled. The same goes for the Dutch familes: what goals, and wishes did they have and what are their (post-)migration experiences? This could be supported theoretically by the work of Baumann, Giddens, Urry, Harvey, Lefebvre and the like.
So many other plans exist simultaneously; lecturing in the course on population, urbanisation and mobility, as well as in a course on a project resulting in a socalled B-paper, one level before the Bachelor thesis. In May, there will be a Nordic Geographers meeting in Roskilde, in June tehre will be a meeting for Population Geographers in Umeå. I hope to be able to present some results in connection to the above named articles at both of these confrerences. But first, in February, us geographers in Örebro will host a small workshop for a Swedish network of population geographers.
Also before the holidays, we were a small delegation from Örebro to witness a colleague in Borlänge at the defence of his Dissertation on 17 December. This was very interesting, thinking about my own work ahead. But for now, a slow start is what I want - not many have returned to office after these two weeks. This may facilitate the work on the paper for GPKU.
Monday, 22 November 2010
November 2010
Usually in Sweden (or at least here at CUReS in Örebro), academic terms start up slowly and evolve into dynamic periods. Suddenly, you find yourself in mid-term stress when you discover that a lot has to be done before the end of the term. It's at times like these that it can be good to examine the numerous different assignments and the way they relate to each other.
November 2010 is no exception to this rule. Last Thursday and Friday, we've been to Bredsjö for so-called internal seminars. Gathered together with a group of about 20 regional and urban researchers, we discussed our work in three thematic groups: "place and identity", "regional and urban development" and "sustainability and climate change". This resulted in discussions of our to organsie our work here and how to repesent the centre in external communication.
Closely related to this is the general research plan for CUReS, which we discussed at the end of the series of seminars. In between we discussed each other's papers. I commented on Andreas paper and Håkan commented on my paper. Valuable contributions were made in the field of place, space, identity and place marketing. Of course, these sessions were accompanied by an abundance of good food and drinks.
For me personally, this means that I now can continue my work on a course paper for the long-gone course of Geographical perspectives on cultural heritage. This paper was due in the autumn of 2009, when I was on paternity leave. So now I have confronted myslef with a new deadline; I want it toi be finished before the start of the Christmas holidays.
My to-do list in short:
- get rid of the text based on Anholt and Moilanen & Rainisto - these are too much of a consultancy character, rather than an academic character.
- add a more thorough study of Ashworth & Voogd (1990) as well as the other classical texts of place marketing.
- add a discussion on texts about cultural heritage provided in the course literature.
This course paper should then function as a point of departure for my second and third article, about palce marketing and decision making in the context of dutch migration to Sweden in the early 21st century (aka Orange Waves). It is still undecided where and how to draw the line between these to interrelated topics. One thing that should be done however, is to use a more problematising approach to the subjects. For instance, it could be made more political by asking why the swedish municipalities attracting ducth migrnats don't want to make more use of the existing group of asylum seekers and refugees from de Middle East and African countries already residing there. Moreover, I can also ask the Dutch migrants what they are moving away from; do they perhaps see the Dutch society as too multicultural? Do they prefer being (European, white, Christian) immigrants in Sweden over living with (non-European, non-white, non-Christian) immigrants in the Netherlands?
Besides this, we have gatherd in a two-day Nordic Urban Workshop here in Örebro in October 2010. We were about fifteen PhD students from a number of different countries and univeristies in Sweden discussing urban research in general. This resulted in teh start of a network that will hopefully be able to grow and maintain itself at the fore-front of Nordic Urban research.
Meanwhile, I have also been teaching again, at the same course as last spring, when my father so sadly passed away. I feels strangely awkward to take up the same topics and study the same subjects as I was doing then. I am currently reflecting on what to discuss during the two remaining lectures, to be given in early December. These are the lectures that I was simply not able to give last Spring. It looks like I will summarise a PhD course that I took earlier on this year, called "Mobility in time and space". This summary should be about 45 minutes and it will give an overview of the interdisciplinary theme of mobility studies. Another part of the lecture should discuss migration in general and its different types (partly based on the course literure by Khalid Koser). It should also focus on different types of migration in different periods of time.
That would be a good bridge to the final lecture, about international migration to the Swedish countryside. For this lecture, I could rely on my own studies. General overviews of Migration to Sweden during the recent decades should be followed by a specific presentation of Dutch migrants in Sweden. Possibly, I will add a short intercultural seminar on population geography, in order to contribute to "internationalisation at the home ground".
Last but not least, I'm co-organising a meeting with a Swedish Population Geograper's network, to be held here in Örebro on 2 February 2011. This is quite an informal meeting that takes place every year in the early spring (or in Sweden this would be mid-winter). It looks like we have been able to arrange an interesting programme!
More news next-time!
November 2010 is no exception to this rule. Last Thursday and Friday, we've been to Bredsjö for so-called internal seminars. Gathered together with a group of about 20 regional and urban researchers, we discussed our work in three thematic groups: "place and identity", "regional and urban development" and "sustainability and climate change". This resulted in discussions of our to organsie our work here and how to repesent the centre in external communication.
Closely related to this is the general research plan for CUReS, which we discussed at the end of the series of seminars. In between we discussed each other's papers. I commented on Andreas paper and Håkan commented on my paper. Valuable contributions were made in the field of place, space, identity and place marketing. Of course, these sessions were accompanied by an abundance of good food and drinks.
For me personally, this means that I now can continue my work on a course paper for the long-gone course of Geographical perspectives on cultural heritage. This paper was due in the autumn of 2009, when I was on paternity leave. So now I have confronted myslef with a new deadline; I want it toi be finished before the start of the Christmas holidays.
My to-do list in short:
- get rid of the text based on Anholt and Moilanen & Rainisto - these are too much of a consultancy character, rather than an academic character.
- add a more thorough study of Ashworth & Voogd (1990) as well as the other classical texts of place marketing.
- add a discussion on texts about cultural heritage provided in the course literature.
This course paper should then function as a point of departure for my second and third article, about palce marketing and decision making in the context of dutch migration to Sweden in the early 21st century (aka Orange Waves). It is still undecided where and how to draw the line between these to interrelated topics. One thing that should be done however, is to use a more problematising approach to the subjects. For instance, it could be made more political by asking why the swedish municipalities attracting ducth migrnats don't want to make more use of the existing group of asylum seekers and refugees from de Middle East and African countries already residing there. Moreover, I can also ask the Dutch migrants what they are moving away from; do they perhaps see the Dutch society as too multicultural? Do they prefer being (European, white, Christian) immigrants in Sweden over living with (non-European, non-white, non-Christian) immigrants in the Netherlands?
Besides this, we have gatherd in a two-day Nordic Urban Workshop here in Örebro in October 2010. We were about fifteen PhD students from a number of different countries and univeristies in Sweden discussing urban research in general. This resulted in teh start of a network that will hopefully be able to grow and maintain itself at the fore-front of Nordic Urban research.
Meanwhile, I have also been teaching again, at the same course as last spring, when my father so sadly passed away. I feels strangely awkward to take up the same topics and study the same subjects as I was doing then. I am currently reflecting on what to discuss during the two remaining lectures, to be given in early December. These are the lectures that I was simply not able to give last Spring. It looks like I will summarise a PhD course that I took earlier on this year, called "Mobility in time and space". This summary should be about 45 minutes and it will give an overview of the interdisciplinary theme of mobility studies. Another part of the lecture should discuss migration in general and its different types (partly based on the course literure by Khalid Koser). It should also focus on different types of migration in different periods of time.
That would be a good bridge to the final lecture, about international migration to the Swedish countryside. For this lecture, I could rely on my own studies. General overviews of Migration to Sweden during the recent decades should be followed by a specific presentation of Dutch migrants in Sweden. Possibly, I will add a short intercultural seminar on population geography, in order to contribute to "internationalisation at the home ground".
Last but not least, I'm co-organising a meeting with a Swedish Population Geograper's network, to be held here in Örebro on 2 February 2011. This is quite an informal meeting that takes place every year in the early spring (or in Sweden this would be mid-winter). It looks like we have been able to arrange an interesting programme!
More news next-time!
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
September 2010
C & L are in Northern Sweden to visit family. I couldn't join them since I had too much work to do. Is that really true? I'm trying to take it easy since papa died, 'cause there's so much more in life than work. But if I hadn't been able to work for ten days, it would have been stressful afterwards.
So what's on? The new academic year has now most definitely started with many students studying human geography and tourism studies. Of course this is a good sign for us, but it also means much more work with still the same amount of time that we get paid for. 33 students may not seem so much, but dividing them into 2 groups with three seminars for each group and having to correct 3 assignments 33 times takes time!
Well, we're planning as we speak, and as it is me who is repsonsoible for the course this autumn, I also book lecture rooms and that sort of administrative thing. This time, we even scheduled a study visit to the Migration Board in Örebro (http://www.migrationsverket.se/). Let's hope this gives somewhat of a practical start of the course, as students may learn a lot more from this than from reading a 100 pages...
Also, on 14 and 15 Ocotober 2010, CUReS will host the first Nordic Urban Workshop for PhD Students studying urban phenomena from a broad spectre of disciplines (sociology, Health, Education, Politic science, Human Geography and History). Anders and me are busy planning this and we'll hopefully be host to people from Norway, Sweden, Finland, France and Italy. It will be quite international and intercultural, with a seminar, a guided tour of Örebro Castle and dinner in town.
Meanwhile, Mats, Dieter and me started preparing for two new articles to come. One about place marketing and one considering the decision making process of the Dutch lifestyle migrants coming to Central Sweden in the early 21st Century. A lot of studying and planning needs to be done, as I will probably visit the Scandinavia Day in Hoevelaken in January and the Emigration Fair in Houten in February 2011. A start is made with studying Simon Anholts books and website considering his work about competitive identity and the Nation Brands Index.
So, yes it's true that I couldn't join C & L to Northern Sweden. What is more, I have finally been doing some work in and around the house; I hope the garden, car, stairs and trees look nicer now than before (but see another blog).
So what's on? The new academic year has now most definitely started with many students studying human geography and tourism studies. Of course this is a good sign for us, but it also means much more work with still the same amount of time that we get paid for. 33 students may not seem so much, but dividing them into 2 groups with three seminars for each group and having to correct 3 assignments 33 times takes time!
Well, we're planning as we speak, and as it is me who is repsonsoible for the course this autumn, I also book lecture rooms and that sort of administrative thing. This time, we even scheduled a study visit to the Migration Board in Örebro (http://www.migrationsverket.se/). Let's hope this gives somewhat of a practical start of the course, as students may learn a lot more from this than from reading a 100 pages...
Also, on 14 and 15 Ocotober 2010, CUReS will host the first Nordic Urban Workshop for PhD Students studying urban phenomena from a broad spectre of disciplines (sociology, Health, Education, Politic science, Human Geography and History). Anders and me are busy planning this and we'll hopefully be host to people from Norway, Sweden, Finland, France and Italy. It will be quite international and intercultural, with a seminar, a guided tour of Örebro Castle and dinner in town.
Meanwhile, Mats, Dieter and me started preparing for two new articles to come. One about place marketing and one considering the decision making process of the Dutch lifestyle migrants coming to Central Sweden in the early 21st Century. A lot of studying and planning needs to be done, as I will probably visit the Scandinavia Day in Hoevelaken in January and the Emigration Fair in Houten in February 2011. A start is made with studying Simon Anholts books and website considering his work about competitive identity and the Nation Brands Index.
So, yes it's true that I couldn't join C & L to Northern Sweden. What is more, I have finally been doing some work in and around the house; I hope the garden, car, stairs and trees look nicer now than before (but see another blog).
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
August and everything after
Probably, I started working to soon after dad passed away. It wasn't possible to focus on work those weeks in May and June. One lecture that I was supposed to give had to be cancelled as I hadn't been able to prepare a proper one. Talking sense when supervising students during the B-paper course was quite a challenge. No suprise then, that I couldn't really find a way to submit the article.
Finally, the summerholidays started, we travelled to Holland and I could sort of relax. It was right in those first weeks of the holidyas that I regained some concentration and on 15 July, I submitted the article.
Now it's the beginning of August and slowly I start working again. Trying not to exagerate. It will be a while before comments on the article will reach me. Instead, reading texts I should have read before is a good way to start up. At work, not many people have returned from their holidays, which also smoothens things.
Later on, there will be kick-offs and meetings. And Peter and me will have to start planning for the Autumn version of the course about population, urbanisation and mobility. I will also have to make plans for two new articles and field work for these articles. But now, I will read Brian Berry's classical reader (1975) about urbanisation and counterurbanisation.
Finally, the summerholidays started, we travelled to Holland and I could sort of relax. It was right in those first weeks of the holidyas that I regained some concentration and on 15 July, I submitted the article.
Now it's the beginning of August and slowly I start working again. Trying not to exagerate. It will be a while before comments on the article will reach me. Instead, reading texts I should have read before is a good way to start up. At work, not many people have returned from their holidays, which also smoothens things.
Later on, there will be kick-offs and meetings. And Peter and me will have to start planning for the Autumn version of the course about population, urbanisation and mobility. I will also have to make plans for two new articles and field work for these articles. But now, I will read Brian Berry's classical reader (1975) about urbanisation and counterurbanisation.
Friday, 14 May 2010
Mourning and sorrow
These last weeks have been a complete chaos of feelings and thoughts. As you may know. May father died in April. All other things are unimportant. I was there in the Netherlands and stayed for some weeks.
For work this meant that nothing particular was done in April. My colleagues kindly took over the lectures I was supposed to give and the seminars I was supposed to lead. One lecture was cancelled as I thought that I could do it, but in the last moment realised that I wasn't able to focus at all.
I am now together with Mats and Ann-Cathrine lecturing on a course about writing a scientific paper. This involves more consultation work than lecturing, which could be good as it requires a more practical way of focussing. I find focussing on practical matters somewhat easier than focussing on theory, concepts and academic writing.
This week, I took over after Anders, who was supposed to organise a Nordic Urban Workshop. This is to be held in Örebro in October, and about 20 PhD students are expected to participate. Event organisation is something we learned at European Studies and I am happy to be able to practice that now. Together with a research administrator, we are planning and making a flyer.
The PhD course on Mobility was already finished when the tragedy happend. No new PhD courses are planned for this Spring term. There may be one course coming up in the Autumn. A course on quantitave methods, here in Örebro. Would be good not to travel too much.
And yes, I am trying to finish my article soon.
For work this meant that nothing particular was done in April. My colleagues kindly took over the lectures I was supposed to give and the seminars I was supposed to lead. One lecture was cancelled as I thought that I could do it, but in the last moment realised that I wasn't able to focus at all.
I am now together with Mats and Ann-Cathrine lecturing on a course about writing a scientific paper. This involves more consultation work than lecturing, which could be good as it requires a more practical way of focussing. I find focussing on practical matters somewhat easier than focussing on theory, concepts and academic writing.
This week, I took over after Anders, who was supposed to organise a Nordic Urban Workshop. This is to be held in Örebro in October, and about 20 PhD students are expected to participate. Event organisation is something we learned at European Studies and I am happy to be able to practice that now. Together with a research administrator, we are planning and making a flyer.
The PhD course on Mobility was already finished when the tragedy happend. No new PhD courses are planned for this Spring term. There may be one course coming up in the Autumn. A course on quantitave methods, here in Örebro. Would be good not to travel too much.
And yes, I am trying to finish my article soon.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Thinking of 2010
Three months of paternity leave have gone by, Lucas and me have been to Holland for a week, and I decided to try to see these coming months as some sort of holiday. I will need to relax, because 2010 is already promissing to become a hectic year!
Planning for the courses that I'm lecturing on has started. Together with PS, I will be lecturing on a course about mobility and population geography. Last year's lecturing about Economic Geography will not be prolonged, but the work I did for the so-called B-thesis will. This means that I will be busy during the second half of the Spring Term (April and May 2010, with preparing in March and reporting in June), as well as some ten weeks at the end of the year.
Besides that, I had planned to write papers for 2 courses (the one about Cultural Heritage in Bergslagen and the one about Geographical classic texts). Of course, the article still has to be finished, and I have many ideas how to do this. It's just that I realise it will take a lot of time. Therefore, I cancelled my own plans about the trip to the congress in Washington in April. You can't always get what you want! On the other hand, I still would like to visit the Emigration Fair in Houten (NL) on 13 & 14 February 2010.
I had planned not to participate in any Doctoral courses during Spring 2010, as I have enough to do anyway. But what happens? Yes, a course that seems to be made for me is scheduled for January - April 2010. It's a course about "Mobility in Time and Space", organised by the Universities of Gothenburg, Umeå and Tartu (Estonia). Three sessions are planned, three days at each University. This means a lot of travelling, reading and writing. However, it would fit well with the course that I'll be lecturing on just a few weeks later. How to combine this all with family-life and hobbies?
Well, that's a puzzle I have to lay in the coming weeks....
Planning for the courses that I'm lecturing on has started. Together with PS, I will be lecturing on a course about mobility and population geography. Last year's lecturing about Economic Geography will not be prolonged, but the work I did for the so-called B-thesis will. This means that I will be busy during the second half of the Spring Term (April and May 2010, with preparing in March and reporting in June), as well as some ten weeks at the end of the year.
Besides that, I had planned to write papers for 2 courses (the one about Cultural Heritage in Bergslagen and the one about Geographical classic texts). Of course, the article still has to be finished, and I have many ideas how to do this. It's just that I realise it will take a lot of time. Therefore, I cancelled my own plans about the trip to the congress in Washington in April. You can't always get what you want! On the other hand, I still would like to visit the Emigration Fair in Houten (NL) on 13 & 14 February 2010.
I had planned not to participate in any Doctoral courses during Spring 2010, as I have enough to do anyway. But what happens? Yes, a course that seems to be made for me is scheduled for January - April 2010. It's a course about "Mobility in Time and Space", organised by the Universities of Gothenburg, Umeå and Tartu (Estonia). Three sessions are planned, three days at each University. This means a lot of travelling, reading and writing. However, it would fit well with the course that I'll be lecturing on just a few weeks later. How to combine this all with family-life and hobbies?
Well, that's a puzzle I have to lay in the coming weeks....
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