JOURNAL: Collected thoughts on my RQ & Scholarship to Date & Prospective Supervisors/Programs (2.12 + Week 3)


Okay, so let's start with capturing the research proposal agreed with Dr Jade Halbert (as my 
potential supervisor) if I'd applied to enter the Fashion and Textiles (MA by Research) programme at the University of Huddersfield:

What does an object-based study of extant gowns tell us about non-elite women's access to, interactions with and personal expressions of fashion [and material culture] in the 18th century in the Scottish Highlands?

Personally, my interests are broader than that, and I'd like to split this between Masters and subsequent PhD - not one built on top of hte other, but one tackling smaller, preliminary questions and the PhD taking it into book territory.  

How this develops is obviously going to depend on what comes to light in archives/collections. 

What I want to find answers to is, basically: 
  • what were women in the Highlands wearing? (end result: evidence)
  • how did they find out WHAT they could get?   (dissimination of fashion info)
  • what could they access, and how? (access to secondhand trade and retail)
  • who was making the stuff they could get?  (trades)
  • and where were these goods being made? (industries and locality)
  • where could secondhand goods be altered/repaired?  (how local?)

specifics: 
  • would a non-elite woman have made her own shifts?
  • what about her other necessary millinery e.g. caps, kerchiefs, aprons?  (working/everyday)
  • if she made them - where did she get fabric?  did she have to travel to a city or was there a regular (annual? quarterly?) market?
  • re markets - how close together? i.e. what was the furthest distance a woman might have to travel (or get someone else to travel to buy on her behalf)

other non-fitted garments
  • access to ready made?

fitted garments e.g. gowns
  • how many mantua-makers were there in smaller cities?  villages?  fewer than tailors?  a feel for "per capita" and distribution? 
  • was a non-elite woman most likely to be wearing a fitted garment (gown) or an unfitted one (bedgown) for everyday wear?  would this have been considered "undress" or working wear?

UTILITY VS. IMPACT? 

Research Councils UK (RCUK) make a distinction between ‘impact’ and ‘pathways to impact’. 
 
substantive social and economic outcomes of research,
 
the organizational means by which impact will be pursued.

Think about impact in terms of both the value of the research, and the strategic means by which this will be promoted outside of the university.

Securing good relationships with as many stakeholders as possible is the best strategy to generate a pathway to impact.
  • Who is the audience for my research?
  • Which academic communities would be interested in what I am doing?
  • Can I meet the standards for evidence and debate in that community?
  • What are the audiences outside the university?
  • How can I reach these audiences?
  • What kind of language will I need to speak?
  • What will they find useful in what I do?
identify who these stakeholders are, 
what their relationship is to the problem you are investigating, and what aspect of the findings you intend to generate might be of interest to them.

Language 
Interests
Goals
  • How can I assist in improving practice?
  • What kinds of change would I like to see brought about?
  • Who would benefit from these changes (and who might lose out)?
  • How would I benefit from those changes?
Right at the start of conducting research, ask:
  • what sort of change would you like to come about, if your research were successful? 
  • who might benefit from your research, if implemented, 
  • who might be negatively affected
  • your own personal ‘pay-off’ 




------------------------------

NONE OF THIS HAS BEEN RESEARCHED (OR AT LEAST NOT TO PUBLICATION STANDARD) IN RELATION TO THE HIGHLANDS

Basically, women's wear in Scotland is a great big BLACKOUT CURTAIN.  There has been some, limited research that has punched a few holes in that big black thing, creating pin pricks of light shining through. 

- Elizabeth Sanderson - Edinburgh
- Deborah Simonton - double check whether it was Aberdeen or Perth

the problem is, the scope available to research is so huge, that researchers start with HUGE questions and then dive in and what they end up pursuing, writing and publishing ends up, by necessity,  much more focused. 

For example, E Sanderson started with an interest in "where did women get their clothes", thinking to research fashion trade in Scotland and ended up narrowing in on primary source materials for EDINBURGH but exposing a wide range of women's involvement in trades of all sorts, beyond fashion and even beyond retail/shop keeping. 
 
So the question I posted to Jade is likely WAY TOO BIG and will end up (indeed, it will need to be) narrowed down to possible sub-categories such as: 

mantua-making (trade and practice) AND PROBABLY LOCATION SPECIFIC, TOO
secondhand trade, for example travelling merchants and static markets
garment 'factory' production for goods such as shifts and shirts, petticoats, bedgowns etc


The drivers for these questions come from two main sources (STAKEHOLDERS) at both ends of the scale, from two groups that are keenly interested but for different reasons and with very little communication between them. 
  • ACADEMICS / FASHION CURATORS (the Sally Tucketts, Emily Taylors of this world - who examine extants and documents but do not make or wear)
  • SERIOUS REENACTORS (the Jenn Scotts who are historians who do WEAR but do not make and have only a mild interest in bridging the gap between what women back then really wear and what female reenactors today could be doing to better represent that - Jenn's main takeaway is "WEAR A CAP"!)
  • HOBBY REENACTORS (who don't know or care what evidence may exist - often they know that very little is known and in some fashion take advantage of this but just making it up.  They do make, they do wear, but they aren't basing their choices on scholarship.)

And there are the LIVING HISTORIANS... in the USA, these straddle and overlap the other groups. But in the UK, it's quite a stratisfied position.  Costumed interpretion (whether in acting roles or public engagement) is either by site staff/volunteers, with very little provided by way of resources, materials or training due to budgetary/funding constraights, or by hired interpreters (from one of a handful of commercial providers who basically are consultants, main examples being Past Pleasures Ltd and Past-Times Living History, and, on an increasingly limited basis, Prior Attire) whose job it is to entertain (and to a lesser degree, educate) the public. The problem here is that there is little/no exchange of expertise or skill building between the paid interpreters and the site/event staff. 

There are a few notable exceptions of better-than-average engagement/interaction here, but it hinges on individuals, not industry or structural frameworks. I'm thinking here of Sally Pointer and Gareth Risborough - they are skilled makers, educators, interpreters, but they are entirely freelance, and mostly get hired by sites to provide interesting public programmes for visitor experience/engagement, not education or edification of academics, museum professionals, reenactors, etc.   (SO THE OVERALL STANDARD DOES NOT GO UP, IT CAN ONLY GO DOWN.)

what's needed is scholarship in the nitty gritty of what people wore, and then getting that info into the hands of the people who need it or can best use it. 

WOW, I AM TOTALLY OFF TOPIC HERE!  EXCEPT.... THESE ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS AND THIS IS THE PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED (ULTIMATELY). Whether I can be explicit about these issues in my actual dissertation is something I'd need to explore and get feedback on. I expect I would need to tailor how I 'package' my research findings, to best meet the needs of selected stakeholders. It's unlikely I could serve up what ALL these groups need, equally. 

Anyway. 

Back to my research areas and potential thesis proposals....

Jade told me my proposal is good, absolutely good enough to get accepted into her MA programme, and we both acknowledged that the scope would certainly evolve, based on what object(s) I could find and get access to for study. 

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SUPERVISORS / PROGRAMMES / UNIVERSITIES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Breaking down this huge "WHAT DID ORDINARY WOMEN IN THE HIGHLANDS WEAR IN THE 18TH CENTURY?" into chunks that might map onto university departments and research areas. 

dress history (too vague - helps target programs but no help with drafting proposal) 

fashion consumption (Serena Dyer all over this for England. I have doubts about whether her model can be adapted to yield much in Scotland)

makers (has potential, esp if more precisely defined by product/service and/or location)

traders (as above, but could be an avenue to expand beyond urban centres)

material culture (Stana Nenadic has made good inroads for elite women - would she support research into non-elite? ask her if she thinks there's enough existing material out there to be worth pursuing. But I do not want to be diverted into furniture / interior furnishings, etc!  Also - Rosie Waine is revelling in all this from Jacobite perspective but she has already said she isn't aware of substantive body relating to clothing and it's not really "her bag" - the Isabella dress was her big thing there and even then she wasn't compelled to get involved)

women's history (Lynn Abrams is the target here and I think would be a big supporter for any research involving women's agency and economic activities. With Sally on board for a fashion/dress focus, this could be the way forward.)

PATHWAY


1. the initial hurdle is a Masters in History

I am leaning towards the Scottish History MLitt (distance learning) at the University of Dundee.

My thinking at the moment is to approach Allan Kennedy at Dundee, tell him my long term ambitions with regard to women's historical dress in the 18th century, but see what he might suggest as a more general Scottish History thesis topic first.

Alternatively - History MA at the Open University 
 
2. then the Dress & Textile Histories MLitt at University of Glasgow

I am not too sure what the supervisor arrangements are on this programme but I know dissertation topics must be agreed with the course convenor - which is Sally Tuckett. So I'll approach her soon for informal chat about the subject/scope I'm thinking about - see below. 


3. then PhD at University of Glasgow 

I very much want Lynn and Sally as my supervisors. I'll run my research idea past Sally - see below. 


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SUBJECT MATTER FOR RESEARCH PROPOSALS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


1. Scottish History MA - TBD

I'd like to get into the Highland Archives looking for evidence of the mantua-making trade between 1690 (which is around its earliest mention in Edinburgh) and 1790. 

2. Dress & Textiles MLitt at Glasgow

Something object-based. Lots of scope in various Glasgow collections but it comes down to formulating a question to be answered, with the object as 'evidence'. 

3. PhD at Glasgow

I'm a little stumped because the one big idea I have is actually Edinburgh-centric and a broader material culture question - which points towards Stana at the University of Edinburgh instead of Lynn & Sally at Glasgow....




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