PostGrad Café Report - Dr. Steven Stanley

On Wednesday 25th January Dr. Steven Stanley gave a presentation centred around his own doctorate thesis, which investigated experiences of PhD students within the social sciences, particularly on the power dynamics between the supervisor and the student. The PostGrad Café presentation concentrated on the PhD self-help guide, a genre which he exposed to a critical analysis located within concepts of power, identity and autonomy. Drawing on Foucault, Fairclough and his PhD supervisor Michael Billig (who featured both theoretically and empirically), Steven situated this genre within the incongruity produced by the clash between the espoused autonomy of ‘independent’ PhD research and the institutional practices, in particular the supervisor, that are set up to govern that independence.

From the perspective of critical psychology Steven analysed a number of PhD self help books, many of them written by supervisors using their own students as sources of data. He emphasised the lack of reflexivity demonstrated by these texts in using the authors own students as the subjects of these works. Steven also highlighted and criticised the tendency of PhD self-help guides to infantilise the reader by adopting the position of patronising parent. He gave the example of the book that directed the student to ‘take a bath’ if they felt stressed by the demands of writing. Steven’s talk stimulated a lively debate amongst the PhD students present. Among the issues raised, which might be followed up in later PostGrad Cafés, were;

* The commodification of higher education
* Methods of discipline and surveillance within academia
* Self-help genres as part of the 'Americanisation' of academia
* Accountability versus surveillance in government sponsored PhDs
* Community consensus as a way of directing research
* The PhD student as a diversified subject
* The bath as opposed to the shower

The next PostGrad Café will be held on Wednesday 22rd February at 5pm in the Senior Common Room, Glamorgan Building. Details will be posted here soon.

The PostGrad Café Team
Mark, Bambo, Andrew and Jamie