Summer thoughts
(because who has time to pen these down during term time):
It is already summer, yet my plans for the summer have been extremely tentative:
- PS3880E – Human Trafficking in SEA – hopefully does not get cancelled
- EC3660 – ISM on the budget 2012 – hopefully does not get cancelled
- RA work with Dr Daly – awaiting his return, unsure of details
- GREs – the only deliverable I can promise out of this summer
- Reservice – basket
Yet, perhaps I face a larger existentialist dilemma. After a semester of PS, the conclusion is that this sem was easier than any semester with econs. But that in itself says terribly little. It would definitely not have been as easy if this were my second semester in NUS. Likewise, level 2000/3000 EC mods are much easier now than when I took them. Nevertheless, Econs remains a field where I offer no comparative advantage, and (the deciding factor for my switch) I still have no desire to run a quantitative thesis with little data.
A yet larger existentialist dilemma is what do I want to do. My interests seem to be ever expanding with each module I take and article read. As it is now, my CV prepares me for little else besides research with some semblance of a specialization revolving around the domains of development, poverty-alleviation and political economy in Southeast Asia. Yet, the work I have done range from public to non-government administration, analysis from the top (office work) to analysis from the bottom (field work), topics such as corruption to emergent narratives. (It also doesn’t help that economics is a particularly influential discipline in the area I have become interested in.) And this has implications on post-grad apps and ISM choices. Three fields (and post-grad programmes) have seem to somewhat been able to envelope the above: Development Studies, Public Administration and Informal Economy (Political Economic Geography?)
It looks set to be a reflective summer to say the least.
a moz quixote 