Choose my Ph.D....

In My Humble Opinion
1

Well, I’ve been considering a lot recently what I want to study for a doctorate. You see, I’m moving to Taiwan next year to learn Chinese for a couple of years, and then when I come home I want to start on a doctorate. I want to spend my time in Taiwan searching for the funding to do this study.

My problem is that I’m interested in too much. I’m fascinated by everything, so I want to give my background and my major interests for you all to suggest what I might like to focus on in my post-graduate studies.

First of all, I already have a B.A. in English and a Licence de Philosophie after my time here in Paris. The latter is only one year of study (it’s more or less as though I did the entire senior year of a philosophy degree. I’m more or less fluent in French, and I, hopefully, will be fluent in Chinese after a couple of years.

As for my interests, they all revolve around globalization, yet I wouldn’t say it’s primarily the economic aspects of globalization. It’s more so the cultural interaction caused by globalization. Languages and linguistic philosophy interest me. Historical accounts of cultural and intermeshed linguistic histories are game.

Also, the internet – it’s effects on culture, on interaction among peoples, on information sharing, on different perspectives, and on governments (in the sense that censorship may or may not becoming more and more difficult) – is one of my foci.

Art and popular culture – music, painting, theater, etc. – as well…

World religions and their similarities…

Aside from that, I should say that I do pay quite a bit of attention as well to the political and economic aspects of globalization and developement. I just want to stress that my interest in globalization goes far beyond just that.

I have to go now, and I’m sure I forgot something, but I’m wondering if anyone can give me some suggestions.

2

You sound to me as a dead-center bullseye for Political Science.

It’s not about “how to rule a country”; rather, you could think of it as “economics, with less economy and more cultural-background.”

3

Here is a list of some graduate programs in International Development Studies (which is either multi-disciplinary or single discipline depending on your preference). All the topics you mentioned are under the purview of IDS (including things like internet access for the developing world).

This is a Candian website, so most of the links are to Canadian schools, but there is a section for other schools around the world. I happen to do some of the work on this website, so if you find any broken links, let me know!

http://www.idsnet.org/programs.html

I know you chose the title of your OP to catch the readers interest and are more looking for suggestions of areas of study, but I should add that doing a PhD is a pretty long slog. Lots of work, little pay, if it is not a subject YOU have chosen and are passionate about, you probably won’t finish.

4

I know. I’m not getting you all to choose my PhD, per se. It’s already been chosen in that I know what I’m interested in. I just need to tell me what heading all these subjects find themselves under…

5

A PhD is different from anything else you’ve done in that it depends a lot on your advisor. Half the learning involved in a PhD is doing your own research, but the other half is getting feedback from a very skilled professor. So, my advice is to make a list of the subjects that interest you (and in much greater depth than the ones you listed) and search for people who have published in that area, published things that you like. They have to be at a school where you can get in, and it helps if they have some clout, but not so much that you see them only once a quarter.

Some people wander into graduate school without ideas, and get assigned a topic, but I’ve always thought it better to come in with something that excites you - and that seems to be where you are, which is good. But you need to pick a subject which you have some chance of not hating after three years.