When collecting feedback on my questions from other practitioners, those who had experience of academic study often mentioned the importance of available literature. If there is no, or very little, existing literature about my chosen topic I could be shooting myself in the foot. So before finalising my question for my professional inquiry, I wanted to do some research to find out how much existing literature is available for my areas of interest.
I was pretty settled this week on going with my 'polymath' line of inquiry; researching the effects on career development of actors who do more than one thing. This could be actors who write, direct, produce, or even run their own company as an entrepreneur.
So...I bounced of to some bookshops and libraries, only to be very disappointed...it's seems there has been no books written on this particular subject. I tried to think about the topic from many different angles and sought out books on; fulfillment in self-employed business, philosophy books about being 'rounded', as well as the more obvious actor books...but hardly anything at all of use! There are hundreds of books about how to do everything...but all from a singular discipline point of view. So it's thrown me into a bit of a spin and I don't know whether to change my whole topic - how can I get a good grade when my secondary sources are so limited?
If I choose to pursue this line of inquiry I envisage an awful lot of time will have to be spent trawling through actor's biographies in the hope of finding one relevant paragraph, or hours on the internet doing the same with interview transcripts etc. Am I crazy to make life this difficult when I could choose a topic such as 'theatre's role within society' or 'ethics in theatre' and I wound find an abundance of academic writing to research?
On the other hand I really had my heart set on this topic as it interests me so much; I know I won't have a problem collecting 1st hand research from people I know, so maybe I can afford to spend a bit more time looking for literature. Perhaps.....my line of inquiry is actually more important than I realised? If nobody has written about this topic, then isn't it about time someone did? Maybe I am being more of a 'true researcher' and being a pioneer?! A friend I was speaking to last night reckons it will be impossible to get a 1st or 2:1 if my secondary sources are not good enough.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts on whether to change my question completely. Also, if anyone has any brainwaves about the types of literature I might consider, let me know!....
Polymath is a person of great or varied learning so maybe you can link this with knowledge? maybe look at transdisciplinary and knowledge- I do not really know if they are closely linked as I am unsure of your whole question.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicole - sorry my blog post was probably a bit unclear as I was probably having a bit of a rant. My question was going to be with to do with the positives and negatives of being a 'polymath' in the creative industries.....ie. do different creative practices feed each other and provide fulfillment or do you end up being able to do everything a bit, but nothing really well. I think your idea to approach the literature from researching transdiciplinary knowledge is a good one - I guess it's just another word for it. Polymath's are also often referred to as 'Renaissance Men and Women', a term associated with Renaissance era polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci; I managed to find quite a lot of internet literature using this term.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for suggesting a different angle - I should be able to find lots of academic writing about trans/inter discilinary knowledge and it's impact. I hope to be finalising my question very soon - would love to know your thoughts!