NGL, I was expecting to hear *crickets* when I asked this to the Substack ether last week:

Michelle 7d Putting together my summer reading list for my PhD research (I study how to archive transcendence and altered states of consciousness using emerging technologies) do u guys want to see it or is that boring 160 25 1

Color me thrilled! For the full list, keep scrolling. (It’s long)

My son and I are both on summer break — him from preschool, me from my doctoral program — and the last few days we’ve languidly floated through the daylight hours taking walks, watching movies, going to parks, taking the train, and generally chilling.

The few hours I’ve spent working-working I’ve been chipping away at our newest North Node challenge (publishing a podcast in two weeks, tomorrow is day 6!) and organizing my research agenda for the summer, which is honestly pure pleasure because it consists of:

• looking up books and research articles

• thinking about books and research articles

• buying books

• printing research articles

• surveying all of my materials and figuring out who wants to sit with whom

Dream, non?

What’s a research agenda and why do you want one?

My research agenda is just a proposed schedule of readings and research I’d like to do to help myself as I prepare to complete the next portion of my doctoral program — passing my written qualifying exams. I’ll spend next year finishing up coursework and writing two long qualifying exam papers; after you pass your qualifying exams and defend your dissertation proposal, you move on to PhD candidacy and writing your dissertation.

So I’m thinking of this summer’s research as the basis of my dissertation. If I can make it work, I’ll try to produce research that could be included in my WQEs or as a dissertation chapter down the road, which means my research this summer is capacious — I’m diving into studying creative research methods, tons of experimental critical theory, and trying to fill my own knowledge gaps that’ve revealed themselves in the first year of my program.

My research agenda helps me organize my thoughts, and gives me bird’s-eye-view of how I’ll navigate all my reading this summer. It’s fluid — it will definitely change as I discover more resources — but it’s a nice place to start.

How I built this research agenda

My research is focused on how we can archive experiences of transcendence and altered states of consciousness using emerging technologies, and for the last year any time I’ve seen a book or article I feel could be useful for my work I’ll write it down in my “Books to Read” notebook or save the article to my Zotero database.

What I’ve put together below is entirely made of materials I’d previously flagged as potentially helpful, and as I actually do the reading (lol) I’m certain that I’ll chase down other sources and articles mentioned in the proposed reading.

I’ve grouped the readings in a way that I find useful for my own memory; I like when my research sort of loops back on itself, where there’s a break of a week or so between concepts and then I dip back into and build upon previous ideas. (I explain more of this in the podcast ep that goes with this list!)

Again, this is subject to change 😇 I’m a big fan of reading what excites you, and I know there are a few titles on this list that I’m already frothy over so they might get bumped up to an earlier date.

What’s not in this research agenda

I haven’t included my other creative research in this agenda, but just know that’s happening. Creative research feels a bit more indirect. Doesn’t mean it’s less valuable, though. I have a whole stack of plays that I want to read (I would literally rather have my big toenail wrenched from my toe with a pair of rusty pliers than have to speak out loud on stage, acting is so not for me, but I do love to read a play for pleasure), and a bunch of literary fiction on hold at Libby atm.

Other types of research:

• reading plays

• watching movies

• making ceramics

• going to dance class

• taking a walk every morning

• sewing

• gardening

• spellwork

• swimming

• Feldenkrais lessons

• talking to friends

• drinking rosé on the patio as the heat of the summer day dwindles

• visiting museums

• seeing shows

• being present to the mystery of life

Living is research, baby. As mentioned, we’re focusing on creative research in the North Node during Q3 — if you want to join us for one month, you can find out how here.

Without further ado, here’s the summer reading list:

Summer Reading Syllabus

Week 0 — Phenomenology and the Sensuous World

Primary Sources

Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996.

Archibald, Robert B. “Interweaving Arts-Based, Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research.” The Qualitative Report 23, no. 3 (2018): 669–683.

Fetters, Michael D., and Juan Carlos Molina-Azorin. “A Checklist of Mixed Methods Elements in a Submission for Advancing the Methodology of Mixed Methods Research.” International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches 11, no. 2 (2019): 203–215.

Knowles, J. Gary, and Ardra L. Cole, eds. Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008.

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Donald A. Landes. New York: Routledge, 2012. Introduction and Part Two.

Supplementary Sources

Dewey, John. Art as Experience. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1934.

Feinberg, Todd E. From Sensing to Sentience: How Feeling Emerges from the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Introduction.

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Eye and Mind.” In The Primacy of Perception and Other Essays on Phenomenological Psychology, the Philosophy of Art, History and Politics, edited by James M. Edie. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964.

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. The World of Perception. Translated by Oliver Davis. London: Routledge, 2004.

Pessoa, Levi. The Entangled Brain: How Emotions Shape Thinking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2024. Introduction.

Radu, Robert. “John Dewey’s Pragmatic Conceptions upon American Progressive Education and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Transcendentalist Conceptions on American Literary Theory.” Journal of Philosophy and History of Education 57 (2007): 21–34.

Week 1 — Infrastructure, Pluralism, and the Numinous Object...