This week has been spent trying knots in my thesis. I mean that in several ways. First of all, assembling the framework for my analysis of the two living buildings in my case study requires me to tie together a diverse set of ideas from Latour’s compositionist epistemology and his notion of the Earthbound to concepts such as Habitus, dwelling, and materiality. After lashing all of these things together with strands of my own reasoning, I’m left with a veritable monster that Latour would urge me not to abandon! The task from there has been setting my creation loose in the world of Living Buildings to see what sort of inferences I can draw from the fray. So far, things are looking good. Each section has ended up being longer than I expected, and my task for the next few days (3! including today) is to keep writing and un-writing. That is, I’m re-reading my chapters and sections, omitting things here, adding things there…
I’m also in the process of editing some photos I took of the buildings! That’s always fun. Also organizing my citations and the other mechanical aspects of such an undertaking is demanding my attention. These are the sorts of knots that come at the end of loose ends, tidying up my piece into a single thing — that will then be polished and tended, nurtured and massaged before I can call it… Good? Done? That’s a big not that I’ll wait to unravel.
In the meantime, I need Godspeed more than luck! Please wish accordingly!