June 11, 2007

As promised, from today's work. I didn't think I'd get to The Dissertation today but I managed to switch gears between dissertating and finishing up a draft of a book chapter that will be my contribution to the project I mentioned earlier.

"What you will notice in the empirical discussions presented in this section is that that "the nation" or its "national identity" is embedded - both morally and practically - in the mundane as well as the extraordinary such that religion, epics, language, pronunciations, aesthetics, diet, folklore, family, codes of morality, cultural signifiers, etc are all relevant to understanding the ongoing emergence of 'self' as distinct from the 'other'."

Why do I like it? No I am under no such grand illusion that it's the most sparkling thought. Still, I think it is pretty effective in setting up the empirical analysis that will follow in chapter 3 or 4 (the exact numbering will depend on whether I separate what I am describing as an "empirical preface" or leave it as part of chapter 2).

Signing off till tomorrow evening.