Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, with Boris and Michelle Vian in Paris in 1949 - shutterstock
As much as I’m woodworking, this is still a master’s thesis. I have discussed before that I am using Arts Based Research (ABR) to try to push my findings beyond the university library and into to more people’s hands. That said, there still needs to be a theoretical foundation; after all, this is academia.
If you are not familiar with the process of a master’s thesis, there is a committee that must approve your work for you to either pass or fail. That committee is made up of your supervisor, a second reader, and an external reader. Each has a role to play to get you through the process. You have two major components to provide—the thesis paper (normally) and the defence.
The role of the supervisor is as it seems. They are there to help you set the parameters of the thesis, assist you along the way, answer your questions, make sure you are heading in the right direction, and be the first reader of any paper you write. The supervisor is the person you check in with on a regular basis and the mentor you need to complete this major project. In my case, my supervisor introduced me to the concept of ABR through Leavy (2015, 2018) and also introduced me to my main theorist, Tim Ingold (2000, 2011, 2013). Those two suggestions helped me discover how I wanted to execute my thesis and gave me new insight into making.
The role of the second reader is less involved but still incredibly important. In my case, my seconder reader challenged me on theory. He asked me what main theoretical basis I was going to follow and made suggestions as to what might work. Similar to my supervisor, he provided me with direction but did not complete the journey for me. It was up to me to go down that path. His suggestions were material culture, phenomenology, technical criticism, and work culture. As I worked through this list, phenomenology stood out as an area I would like to pursue as a theoretical base for my work.
My first hurdle was to understand what phenomenology is. To be honest, I am still not completely sure—I guess that is the point of this level of learning. I need to explore it more to become more fluent in what it is. That said, my neighbour (who is a PhD himself—or at least he says he is) explained it to me this way:
If you imagine a sunrise. As you see the sun peeking over the edge of the horizon and rise higher and higher in the sky, you are experiencing the sun moving from one place to another in the sky—it rises. There may be some spectacular light that reminds you of a past experience or you may just say, “this is beautiful!” You are there and you see it in a certain way. Another person may experience something differently when seeing the exact same moments. This is phenomenology.
The science behind the sun’s movement says that the sun is not rising at all. The earth is moving around the sun and, at the same time, rotating on its axis. It may appear that it “rises” but that is just not the case. Depending on the season, the weather, and the particles in the air, you may see different colours of light but those are really just refractions that could be easily explained by science. But how we experience the sunrise is much different than how science explains it.
Phenomenology is the study of lived experience and how we see the world. While this may seem simple, it is an often complex and unapproachable genre of philosophy that can challenge even the greatest thinkers. To approach the topic as a beginner, the book The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell (2016) was a great introduction to the people of phenomenology and their lives. It takes the reader through their stories, their experiences, their philosophy, and finally, their deaths. There were many parts of the book that confused me, and I will probably have to read it again one day. That said, I can now go back to Ingold (a phenomenologist himself) and see more in his writing. I can now connect some of the concepts he has explored and make sense of them through some of his foundational references.
So right now, I am still at the beginning of understanding the theory of what I am doing but I am starting to see themes in my work and the work of others. I wonder what the external reader will bring?
References
Bakewell, S. (2016). The existentialist cafe: Freedom, being, and apricot cocktails. Toronto, Canada: Penguin Random House.
Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling, and skill. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Ingold, T. (2011). Being alive: Essays on movement, knoweldge and description. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Ingold, T. (2013). Making: Anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice (Second). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Leavy, P. (2018). Handbook of arts-based research. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.