Person
Hello stranger. In theory, this is my academic/research blog (I have eleven other blogs, no seriously). In practise, not every thing here is smart/productive/useful in life but I have a lot of thoughts and I like to remember things. I am a Malay-Chinese Christian woman who grew up in Singapore and now lives in Perth. I call no where home because I believe that if home is no where then home is every where. And also, I live on the Internet. I am pursuing a PhD in Anthropology & Sociology, and Communications & New Media at the University of Western Australia. I am excessively passionate about every thing to do with gender and the Internet, percussive and orchestral music, and penguins. My academic interests include Gender & Sexuality (identity, performativity), Social media (youth, entrepreneurship, technobiographies), and Race, Ethnicity & Religion (inter-cultural upbringings, multi-cultural family units, hybridity).
Research
I have been studying the commercial blog industry in Singapore since August 2010 and have concluded fieldwork in Singapore and smaller nodes in SEAsia towards my dissertation. I pledge to devote my remaining few months towards writing the most kick ass thesis ever. I am conducting a processual analysis of how success is constituted in this industry through narratives of self-creation, and discuss this in terms of persona, public femininities, taste/class, technologies of intimacy, and social currency. A watered down 3MT summary exists here.
Busy things
I may also occasionally rant about my work as a 24/7 library officer (think being wide awake at 0400hrs in the morning to keep the library running), a tutor in Anthropology & Sociology, and Communications & New Media. I recently concluded my roles as Project Officer for Trove and Level Rep for a UWA Anthropology & Sociology Postgrads. I am the current Web Officer & Western Australia Representative for the Australian Network of Student Anthropologists (ANSA).
Beep
crystalabidin[at]gmail.com
Anthropology and Sociology M255
School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, WA 6009
Australia
Drop a note. Or five. Or better still, send me .gifs of penguins.
See you on Twitter, thetravelingpingu, or SMTNW.
