What is my PhD actually about? [cc]

Check out my new website: www.jeanmenzies.com
You can support my podcast and channel on...
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/jeansthoughts
Patreon: / bookishthoughts
Videos:
Where to start with Ancient Greek Literature: • Where to start with An...
One Year PhD update: • Life as a PhD Student ...
How to Apply for a PhD: • How to Apply for a PhD...
Can myth teach us history: • Can mythology teach us...
Other links mentioned:
Podcast: www.jeanmenzies.com/podcast
Procne and Philomela for Dangerous Women: dangerouswomenproject.org/201...
Greek Myths (children's book): amzn.to/3AgqF1S
Rape in Antiquity (volume 1): amzn.to/3hnJ5VZ
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Where else can you find me?
📚 My Website: www.jeanmenzies.com
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📚 Goodreads: / jean
📚 TikTok: / jeansthoughts
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Check out my podcast 'That's Ancient History':
On twitter: / thatsancient
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On iTunes/Apple Podcast App: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
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[@CoynieReads]

The seagulls clearly have some OPINIONS to share on classical Athenian society 😂

[@JeansThoughts]

They’re mansplaining at me 😂

[@michaelsommers2356]

@@JeansThoughts The birds aren't "mainsplaining". It's Procne and Philomela trying to tell their side of the story.

[@sabrinaburton7158]

This is so interesting! I have never studied classics in any form but have been fascinated by history and greek mythology my entire life. I love learning about it from you and love your podcasts they are always fascinating

[@lukem118]

I will check out her podcast. I have been reading Sylvia Plath recently and she references the classical period pretty heavily but I know nothing about it. Thanks.

[@isaberuteuki]

This was so interesting! I'm doing a PhD (in a completely different subject) and I love hearing about your experience and your research, it helps with keeping up the motivation. Also the topic is so interesting and you explained it so well

[@AnastaciyaSh]

Love your passion for the topic, for studying itself. I'm always in awe of your brain, for lack of a better word 🙈 (English is not my native language). And yes, very proud of you. Such a joy to watch your KZbin videos on any subject, your knowledge and intelligence always shows 🙏🏻

[@Jessticulates]

This is so fascinating! If you ever felt like doing it, I'd be really interested in a discussion around how your love for and interest in Ancient Greek history has changed and developed over the course of your time at university.

[@dixieAQHA]

Thanks for sharing this! It is so interesting to hear people talk about their chosen field

[@sophieadventures3157]

Amazing! Sounds so fascinating. Huge well done and good luck with your final stretch! X

[@deborahwager5883]

What interesting work! Good luck getting finished!

[@jaegerkarina]

i LOVED this! more chatty vlogs content please if you can! 🤍

[@lukem118]

Who's chat did you like? Jean's or the birds hehe.

[@fionagraham4338]

Absolutely LOVE hearing you talk about something you’re so passionate about!! Best of luck in your writing up and finalising, you’re doing such important work 🧡

[@Xenu]

Studying ideology within a historical period has always struck me as a very challenging question and I am always greatly impressed when reading a history book in which the author goes on to attempt the reconstruction of thought and social ideologies. Very impressive! It's been such a journey. I know you said it'll be a few years before a published version is available but I can't wait to have a well-read copy on my shelf next to my other favorite books on classical antiquity.

[@silkemaria7339]

I had a course about court speeches too last year and it was so fascinating so I'm rooting even more for you and your PhD, thank you for sharing this and and all my best wishes ♥

[@elisam9054]

This was super interesting! I always love your videos about your studies, it's so great to hear you talk about something you are so passionate about! Good luck with the writing ☺️

[@TheVioletdecember]

You are a great speaker and your enthusiasm and zest for the topic is infectious! This was a fascinating watch and I am a new subscriber to your podcast.

[@jessicahudson889]

Oh my goodness I absolutely LOVE your enthusiasm. I'm currently writing my MSc dissertation (I study Classical Art and Archaeology woo), and I've been struggling recently but your video reminded me of why I chose my dissertation topic and why I love Ancient history, so thank you very much for motivating me to finish it!

[@annah7648]

Sounds UTTERLY fascinating Jean!

[@JeansThoughts]

I’m so glad someone thinks so aha!

[@jenniferf4471]

This sounds so interesting, I look forward to reading both the chapter and the diss, if/when you publish it

[@JeansThoughts]

Thanks so much!

[@mdzuracka]

Oh yes! The Procne and Philomela myth, I've listened to that on That's Ancient History I believe, where you were linking women and weaving, Penelope etc. Fascinating stuff!

[@inessamaria2428]

Brilliant, Jean!!!

[@cathycreates]

Really interesting. I'll be interested to read this.

[@syedaamnahassan126]

This may be my favourite video on your channel. Fascinating!

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it ^_^

[@clarajeudy2851]

Sounds so passionating !

[@KathyTrithardt]

I'm so excited to be able to call you Docter Jean when I talk about you in videos/to friends.

[@elliesandpancakes]

I remember when you posted about starting this, I didn't realise I'd been following you for that long/how much time has passed. Your research sounds fascinating and I'm v glad you made a video about it

[@JeansThoughts]

Honestly I can't believe how much time has passed either aha where has it gone!?

[@thelibrarybat4254]

I'm currently writing a novel that's a myth retelling of the Roman myth of the Rape of the Sabine Women and I'd be fascinated to read your work on Rape in Antiquity when it's available!

[@kristenhoughton4891]

Listening to this makes me wish I continued with my classics major, I always enjoyed it. I would read your paper and anything else about the ancient world by you!

[@JeansThoughts]

Ah but you can always read and learn :D doesn't have to be for a degree!

[@JodieTheReader]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this.

[@JeansThoughts]

No problem, I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@sivakamythayaalan4485]

ive been following you for a while and it was soo cool to hear about your phd topic, especially as you connected it to contemporary uses of sexual violence in political rhetoric. good luck with finishing it up!!

[@KittyAndTheBooks]

It always feels a bit like we're doing this PhD thing together. I love hearing your updates on it and not feeling so alone with it. Though I am not doing my PhD in Ancient History. :D I think your topic sounds very fascinating and I would have loved to learn a bit about that in all of the years I was taught Latin. We never talked about women and what their lives were like - apart from the myths. To at least get some idea of the gender norms and views on women at the time is so cool!

[@scoutharris2687]

This sounds really interesting. It’s been a looong time since I took classical studies at uni, but this has made me want to pick up some of my old books... 📚

[@JeansThoughts]

Do it!!!

[@krissyn.3366]

Good luck Jean! You got this. I'm hoping to finish my doctorate by the end of this year and very ready for it to be over. 💗📚

[@JeansThoughts]

Aaaah lots of luck too - I feel exactly the same aha.

[@thefrancophilereader8943]

That was so interesting to learn about. My dissertation is in Renaissance France and Geneva. I look at the ethos of the persecutors in narratives of martyrdom. I also work on rhetoric and violence, but differently. It's so exciting that you're almost done!

[@JeansThoughts]

Violence and rhetoric in any period is fascinating - I want to know more!!

[@griffendell]

I have no deep knowledge of ancient greece but I find your area of study immensly fascinating and you make me want to read your 100.000 words thesis. xD Just judging from your passionate elaboration I can already tell that you will do great!

[@sixofbooks3909]

Congrats on almost being done!! That's so exciting for you! Your research sounds very interesting :) I'm just finishing up the first year of my PhD now so I've got a ways to go lol

[@JeansThoughts]

Amazing though! That first year is a big transaction so congrats. What’s your study area?

[@sixofbooks3909]

@@JeansThoughts Thanks! I'm in English- specifically rhetoric and disability studies :) but I also study YA lit. The first year has just been courses and preparing for comp exams so I'm excited to get into the research/dissertation part next year!

[@ReadingNymph]

It's a very interesting topic to specialise in. Good luck with your phd

[@JeansThoughts]

Thank you!

[@angelicvoice1729]

Hi from a fellow Phd candidate in Greece. Alas, someone sat down and studied this subject. I have grown up listening time and time again about our civilisation and the great Athenian democracy when half of the population had no right whatsover. I absolutely how you approach the court cases. Looking forward to reading your PhD published! What is striking is that in 2021 Greece has seen a record of femicides and I do believe that patriarchy stems from well embedded narratives, some of which have not been contested since the ancient times! Really interesting. I would love to read a paper or any chapter available that you might have!

[@deanmatthewclegg28]

Your passion for the subject is massively inspiring! Have you finished the PhD? Hope you've secured yourself an academic position (if that is what you're hoping for). Or just write and carry on vlogging. Great stuff.

[@WhatVictoriaRead]

This sounds so interesting! Good luck with getting it finished 💛

[@harryjamessmithmusic7762]

Congrats! You deserve it! ... I got my PhD in 2018.

[@IreneAhmed]

This is all so very interesting! I'd love a more in depth video on these court speeches/cases and where to read them? The only ancient politics and law I know of is Aristotle's and Plato's work.

[@JeansThoughts]

Trials from Classical Athens by Christopher Carey would be my go to starting point - it brings together a selection of speeches with explanatory notes and introductions: amzn.to/3qC9y6m Otherwise LOEB have editions of all the major orations in bind up volumes - Demosthenes and Aeschines are the two most famous, and have the greatest number of speeches surviving.

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh in fact Oxford do have a Demosthenes volume too as he's the most prolific (of surviving speech writers) and I have that edition too - it's a nice selection: amzn.to/3wb5smA

[@IreneAhmed]

@@JeansThoughts thank you for these Jean! I'll check them out! And good luck with your PHD!

[@demeldapenkitty7937]

Sounds fascinating

[@JeansThoughts]

Thanks!

[@naogoweczytaczki]

Fingers crossed! I'm also in the process of writing up my PhD and hopefully this time next year... :) Your topic sounds fascinating and you explained it really well. Best wishes and greetings from Poland :) Dagmara

[@JeansThoughts]

Aaaah snap! We can do this!! What's your PhD in?

[@michaelsommers2356]

Number one lesson from the myth of Procne: Before eating a stew in ancient Greece, make sure your kids are still alive.

[@classicsed]

I admire scholarship that sets out to research without drawing foregone conclusions. One thing I wonder is how unexamined core beliefs-what constitutes a social/political entity (individual vs. oikos, for example), belief in divine forces, relationship to authority, chaos, organization-can prefigure the conclusions we come to. Can’t even something like “we are all the same/we don’t have any meaningful differences, only manufactured ones” become an oppressive ideology that erases cultures by positioning them within a teleological framework (“this is an early of example of that thing we do now,” for example) vs. studying them ontologically?

[@JeansThoughts]

As much as I came to my research with an open mind I don't think there is any such thing as an unbiased historian. We all bring, like you say, our experiences and beliefs to the table. We are however constricted by the evidence and our ability to argue our interpretation of the evidence which is then rightly judged by our piers as to whether it can be believed or not. This is also why you need a diverse range of minds examining that evidence. For centuries only upper class white men were allowed in academic hallways and that caused a bias in what we understood about the past. Now I hope at least a diversity of historians creates a diversity of interpretations which leads to better debate and broadening of all of our methodologies.

[@classicsed]

@@JeansThoughts oh yes, completely agree about the need for diversity of voices and the inability to be unbiased, though for the latter, I think it can be counterproductive to be complacent about it. Meaning, the more aware we are of our biases, the more we can open ourselves up to the need for diverse voices. I’m thinking, also, of the way art and scholarship of women from the Eastern Roman Empire (thinking specifically of Eudocia and Anna Komnene) has been almost completely overlooked in “Western” scholarship due to biases against the “Byzantines.”

[@richardgale4827]

That was SO useful as a measure of how much you've focused down on specific case studies as an illustration of the research topic. What I'd love to know is whether your thesis title is the same as your research proposal right back at the start. For example, was the 4th century targeted originally, or did you go in with a broader proposal and then drill down with the guidance of your supervisor(s)?

[@JeansThoughts]

No absolutely not aha - I think I specific classical Athens because I knew I wanted to work on court speeches and that’s where they’re from but not century and not specific speeches or focus. My proposal was so broad aha.

[@richardgale4827]

​@@JeansThoughts Thanks!

[@paulwinchell6904]

It's happening your going to be a Doctor. Your going to be Doctor Jean.

[@JeansThoughts]

Here's hoping aha.

[@abi_jean_reads]

where should i start on your podcast? :) (i do know a bit about mythology)

[@JeansThoughts]

Honestly I know it’s boring but I’d start with season one episode one as it’s all about getting into classics. Otherwise every episode does stand alone - you don’t need to have listened to previous ones so just any title that grabs your interest.

[@abi_jean_reads]

@@JeansThoughts excellent 😍

[@abi_jean_reads]

those birds were driving my cat crazy haha

[@JeansThoughts]

Yeah aha I probably should have caviated this is not a cat friendly video!

[@abi_jean_reads]

@@JeansThoughts oh no its totally fine. i thought it was funny :)

[@biankatoth1786]

Jean when will the podcast continue?

[@JeansThoughts]

Yes! I actually meant to say that in the video :D it'll start again in August - I already have a couple episodes recorded so there's no going back on it aha.

[@biankatoth1786]

@@JeansThoughts yayyyyy

[@mdzuracka]

I was convinced it was 5th century Athens! 😅 Have you changed the period of research or is my memory shite? 😂

[@JeansThoughts]

Aha maybe you thought 400s from me saying 4th and that turned into 5th century - my mind has definitely done that before aha.

[@mdzuracka]

@@JeansThoughts Best of luck with your PhD by the way! I'm sure you'll smash it!! And congratulations on your new release! 📚

[@itrgstfilingcenter1057]

I really love your voice please come to India and marry me I'm student of law and for doing PhD in laws

[@caseyisbooked6752]

Super interesting! I've been here since the beginning and I love the updates and the joy you obviously have regarding the classical/antiquity eras (this is clearly not what I'm studying lol). You're almost there and this thesis sounds super important and I look forward to more updates and the final result eventually