Thoughts
A much needed session with Richard, after many weeks feeling lost and putting in all of my effort but not really getting anywhere. This session helped to simplify things a bit for me which has been a relief. Previously, I was considering having my case study analysis running through the dissertation where they appeared most relevant, i.e
Aldous Huxley literature case study to appear in the "Hippie" main body section of my essay (technically within context and themes) before moving on to talk about modern day psychedelic medicine. It does all link writing like this as the flow is continuous and it will have obvious relevance to the points I am making in that section. However, this way of including my case studies throughout instead of dedicating a separate chapter to them (chapter 3) - obviously goes against the dissertation structure we have been given which has been confusing me.
I couldn't see a way past this after being entirely focused for so long on one thing, but Richard quickly cleared this up for me by explaining how I can approach my case studies in keeping with the structure. Instead of talking about the hippie counter culture and embedding my relevant Aldous Huxley case study (for example) within this section to align with the points I have made, I just use the Hippie section to make my points and "lay the ground work" as it were - to then reflect upon these points when I come to do my case study analysis as part of chapter 3.
I don't know why I didn't make sense of this sooner as it feels extremely obvious to me now - but by writing this way, I don't need to make all of my points or include all of my research within the context and themes chapter. I can now spread my research and information out by laying the groundwork in context and themes chapter 2 and picking up / make extra points within my case study analysis in chapter 3. YAY!
Other things to consider:
- Amazing praise for the extent of my contextual knowledge, I just need to find a way to fit it all in coherently and concisely to do it all justice - Richard understands that this will not be easy.
- Case study decisions:
- Shamanic ancient cave artwork / carvings
- Psychedelic art work
The last case study (psychedelic artwork from the counterculture era) is to the lay the groundwork for chapter 4 - reflective practice. Where I can use this example to contrast with what I am trying to attempt as a practical solution to this research project - in other words this case study provides an example of what i DON'T want to do within my work -
(Stereotypically psychedelic, impersonal etc)
- I am running out of time now therefore I need to have a finalised essay draft for 2 weeks time when we next meet (So much needs to be done and due to my struggling with it all - Richard understands that Sundays interim submission will not be a completed draft)
- We are both still having difficulties with the practical solution. Medical / personal psychedelic experiences and testimonials to respond visually are sparse and extremely difficult to get hold of despite my efforts at primary research - therefore i need to find a practical solution, with or without this testimonial approach.