Sharing and Caring

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the FADS symposia and the functioning of the network in between the actual gatherings, and to explain the meetings and their significance to everyone’s dissertation work. Three FADS students who participated in the symposia and engaged in the different assignments wrote this chapter together. The description and discussion is based on our own experiences, and on the observations and discoveries we have made about others during our face-to-face conversations, and from the online forum that functioned as a common space for further commentary and discussion between meetings. The title of the chapter refers to two of the three tasks that constituted the activity of the network between the meetings; sharing and responding to foundational texts, and researching research. The main point is to explain the purpose and execution of these tasks, and to reflect on their meaning to the students’ own doctoral research. However, the functioning of FADS has been more than mere mandatory schoolwork assignments; performing the tasks fostered discussion and cooperation during the symposia, a result of the experiment discussing the individual problems of the students’ research projects. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the places where the face-to-face encounters took place, and on the social spaces that formed between the students, coordinators and guests.