Spaces now available: ‘City Maps’ PhD workshop with Benjamin Fraser

Benjamin Fraser, Executive Editor of the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, is leading the next City Maps doctoral training workshop, funded by CHASE, which will take place on Friday 28 June 2019 at Birkbeck, University of London.

While places in this workshop series are in the first instance reserved for students funded by CHASE, or studying at a CHASE institution, the organization is pleased to make available a limited number of places for doctoral students studying at other institutions for the next workshop, co-led by Benjamin Fraser (University of Arizona) and Mari Paz Balibrea (Birkbeck).

The description of the workshop is below. If you would like to participate, please send the following information to Mara Arts (m.arts.12@ucl.ac.uk) by no later than 14 June 2019:

• Name
• Email Address
• Institution
• Working thesis title
• Summary of your doctoral research (400-500 words)
• Dietary requirements
• Other requirements

City Maps Workshop Series: Navigating the Urban Object Across Disciplines

Workshop 5

Urban Cultural Studies: Getting Oriented, Getting Published

Prof. Benjamin Fraser, U. of Arizona

Friday 28 June, 2019

10.00 Arrive/coffee

10.30-12.00 Urban Cultural Studies Method

A talk by Benjamin Fraser on the methodological questions involved in conducting urban cultural studies research. This includes a brief look back at the development of cultural studies, discussion of previous confrontations and intersections between the humanities and the social sciences, and exploration of the current (inter)disciplinary landscape of journal publishing. A range of cultural texts are mentioned including literature, poetry, theatre, film, comics, popular music, performance, painting, video games, and architecture. Emphasis is on the blending of textual analysis, cultural context, and theoretical ground. Examples given from the speaker’s own research and from the pages of the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies.

12.00-13.00 Lunch (provided)

13.00-14.45 Task 1 – The Interdisciplinary Publishing Landscape

This session will be led by both Benjamin Fraser and Mari Paz Balibrea and will help participants reflect on their own work on cities and how it fits in the landscape of urban studies scholarship. Fraser and Balibrea will provide opening remarks about the state of the interdisciplinary publishing landscape in order to capture the breadth of research venues interested in urban-related submissions. Participants will be divided into groups in order to discuss where their intervention best fits in the field, with the goal of identifying the most relevant journals and publishing houses. This session will involve both small-group and large-group Q&A, with the possibility of 1×1 conversations as time permits.

14.45-15.00 Break

15.00-16.45 Task 2 – Transforming Your Thesis into a Book

This session will be led by both Benjamin Fraser and Mari Paz Balibrea. The 15 participants will divide into groups of 3, and each group will compile and discuss a list of questions they have about the process of turning your thesis into a book. All questions are welcome. Among other topics, participants might consider: publishing and the academic job market; dos and don’ts when turning a thesis into a book, how to identify a suitable publisher, organization of a proposal, submitting a proposal, suggesting possible readers of your proposal and manuscript to a press, communication with acquisitions editors, how many proposals to send out at one time, whether to publish articles/chapters separately that might be included in the book, the peer-review process, the revision process, proofing your book, indexing your book, identifying prospects for promotional blurbs and endorsements on the book cover, promoting your book pre- and post- publication.

Groups will have 15-30 minutes for internal discussion driving the creation of their list. Each group will then share their list with the larger workshop group, after which collective exploration of the themes raised will begin with the most common questions first.