Montreal in Technicolor

SOOO...now that I am set on Ryerson's MPPA, i find myself doing a crapload of reading trying to figure out what my thesis topic will be. I'm thinking about something along the lines of the construction of the notion of 'citizens' in the context of immigration policy, and the effects of globalization to erode traditional concepts of nationality, citizenship. ANYWHOO, it's a little fuzzy at the moment so I did what any good nerd would do, and bought a ton of books that I've always wanted to read and I'm broadening my theoretical knowledge of various concepts in sociology, political science and gender theory.
Here's the books I've read so far, feel free to comment/leave suggestions/ignore this/mock me, etc etc.

1. Michel Foucault - The History of Sexuality: I thought this was excellent. I had to read excerpts for a course I took in my last semester about Women & Gender in the Middle East, and I hated it then. Upon reading the whole book, I fell in love with Foucault and how he defines the institutional structures in modern society and how they create and uphold certain identities, ideologies and constructs. Definitely up there in my favorite books. His thesis is that on the contrary to popular belief, sexuality was not repressed from the Victorian period onwards, but instead it was regularized and brought out into the open through its medicalization. Through the creation of discourses that emphasize 'proper' sexuality and 'abnormal sexuality', you are not encouraging the repression of sexuality, but creating an entire scheme of discipline and surveillance of sexuality that becomes acceptable. Anyway, its significantly more complex than that, but I thought it was an interesting phenomenon and I'm recently very interested in sexuality studies.

2. Michel Foucault - Power and Knowledge: This is a volume of collected interviews, essays and lectures by Foucault that sums up all of his various writings on prisons, hospitals, sexuality and how these institutions create power through the systematization of knowledge. This blew my mind, and gave me the inkling to buy all of his books.

3. Edward W. Said - Culture and Imperialism: EW Said is my favorite author. He is an absolute genius and I am thoroughly influenced by his work. This book was the first one I ever read, by accident actually, because I had meant to pick up Orientalism and got this instead. This book emphasizes how imperialism was created, sustained and managed through the creation of the canon of English and French cultural works. It's interesting to look at his analysis of Jane Austen, who on surface level I wouldn't necessarily tie into the English imperial dogma, as a cultural product that was an impetus for the colonial project. I like his analysis of culture as an important variable, which I don't think is done enough in political science.

4. Edward W. Said - Orientalism: The book is a classic in Political Science, and for good reason. It explains why we think of the ME in the way Westerners do, and it makes you quite conscious of how it is portrayed in everyday language, media, and culture. The phenomenon of the 'Other' is something that has permeated my recent work, especially my Honours seminar paper on Israel/Palestine, and this was a significant influence on that paper in particular.

5. Asef Bayat - Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East: This was GREAT. I read this for a class, Protest and Authority in the ME, and I picked up the whole book. It was a sociological look at non-movements, instead of the usual revolutions and such. Bayat looks at how ordinary encroachment practices by citizens can amount to collective change, and uses influential examples to draw out how this is used in the contemporary ME because of certain mitigating factors that make collective action riskier.

6. Tarek Osman - Egypt on the Brink: A great book, though slightly dated by the recent Arab Spring, but a great analysis of the factors of change present in contemporary Egypt.

and finally, a book that I am reading now that I absolutely am enjoying thoroughly:

Etienne Balibar - We, The People of Europe? Reflections on Transnational Citizenship: I'm about 100 pages in, and this is a pretty excellent treatise on what the meaning of citizenship has become in the context of a transnational 'European' identity created by the emergence of the EU.


SOOOOO, as you all can tell, I have quite the interest with the Middle East, sociology and Political Science. I hope to eventually move on to a PhD, as I am interested in research and possibly teaching. Though Ryerson is known for its career focused programs, I like the research interests of its faculty, and it's also very similar reputation wise to Concordia. I'm hoping I get the skills to both emerge as a prime PhD candidate, as well as be able to integrate into the workforce if i change my mind about the PhD.
I want to take a moment to thank a certain professor, even though she obviously isn't reading this, for her influence on me academically. There was a time, maybe a year or two ago, that I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with school. I was coasting through, not really interested in anything, and I was sort of middling through with average grades which really complicated my grad school search in the last few months. On a whim, I took a class on ME politics again, remembering how I had loved an earlier one with a different prof, and through office hour discussions and email discussions, was able to rekindle the love of school that I had when I entered Concordia. I actually for once had a prof that I, as a quiet and shy student who generally has a hi/bye relationship with most profs, could actually connect with. I got the encouragement I needed at that particular moment, and I ended up writing 2 of my best papers for both classes that I took with said prof. This prof has helped me with grad school in innumerable ways, and recently I was able to give a sincere thanks for everything. I know for a fact her influence will remain with me academically for a long time, and I am very happy to be able to remain in touch and discuss my future plans, etc. It's funny how much things can change when you finally get someone who really believes in your potential.