Sunday, August 8, 2010

Dissertation News

I wanted to give an update on the progress of my dissertation. It is divided into two sections, one on one of the people I'm studying and one on the other person. The first section consists of three chapters on Hwang Sayong (who tried in 1801 to bring a Western armada into Korea to force the kingdom to tolerate Catholicism) and the second of four chapters (about An Chunggun, a Catholic who assassinated a high Japanese official, Ito Hirobumi, who played an important role in the colonization of Korea). In addition to an introduction and conclusion I also need a transition chapter between them. I have completed six of the seven chapters and they have been approved by my adviser (provided I make a few minor revisions), am almost done with the introduction and have done significant work on the last of the seven chapters (I have finished very little on the conclusion however). So what this all means is that provided that my readers don't demand major revisions I should be able to defend in the Spring of 2011 (right after the oral defense, provided I pass, I will be a phd.) If there are any complications I should be able to be done by the summer.

So what does this mean? Basically, I am over the hump, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as long as I keep going I can make it. For those of you who I owe emails or visits, my apologies, I hope to get caught up before too much longer.

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