Hello, my name's Tom and welcome back to my channel where I talk a little bit about
theatre, a little bit about being a PhD student and a little bit about those two
things crushed together. First off an acknowledgment that I've been slightly
slower at putting up videos recently, I currently have a play in rehearsal and
so I've had to be popping in and out on that and that, along with kind of
writing my PhD and living my life more generally and has kind of taken its toll
a little bit and meant I've had slightly less time to do stuff like this.
So apologies, after this period of chaos is over I will aim to do more videos
more regularly. Today, however, I wanted to do a video which has been requested a
few times in the comments of some of my other work and that is looking at how to
understand some complex pieces of theory. As always, questions suggestions and
feedback are always really welcome so, if you do have something you'd particularly
like me to make a video about then please do say so down in the comments,
it's really really useful and for me because it means I can make sure I'm
making videos which are in some way useful to others. So, without further ado,
here is five suggestions from me
for how to understand some slightly more complex theories, particularly in
the humanities.
Number one isn't so much a strategy in and of itself but more a general piece
of advice and that is not to be ashamed when you don't instantly understand
something. In the humanities, we're often looking at bits of text or books or
articles and it can seem like we should be able to inherently understand those
in a way that someone in the sciences probably wouldn't expect to understand
every equation thrust in front of them. And so first off I just wanted to say
that it's important not to feel ashamed when you don't instantly understand
something. What I was gonna say here was that I usually try to contribute the
blame for me not not understanding something on to the author of a piece or
the theorist that's come up with a concept rather than onto myself, that it
should be communicated in a way that is easy to understand or as easy to
understand as it is impossible for that concept to be. However someone was saying
to me the other day that, in actual fact, you can look at that moment of not quite
understanding something as being the moment in which you're truly learning.
It's that notion of being on the very edge of your mental capacity, of your
intellectual ability. And so, first up, I wanted to say don't be ashamed when
you can't understand a certain theory or a certain concept because actually these
are the moments that are the moments that you read for, to find out new
information and new ways of viewing stuff. So, my second suggestion for trying
to understand complex bits of theory is simply to search out a more
introductory text. I think, certainly, once you go beyond
undergraduate level and start to be at M level or PhD level, it can feel
like you've always got to be looking at the original source book, so that the
original book written by a theorist who has come up with this great concept or
great theory of hegemony or everyday life or something like that.
In actual fact, I often find it really really useful to go to one of the Oxford
Very Short Introduction books or indeed, when I was in my MA,
I had a book which was a graphic introduction to an aesthetics and was
full of cartoons and didn't feel particularly academic yet that book was
a really a central part of me starting to understand the more general theories
of aesthetics and how those ideas have built upon one another and where we are
now with how we view aesthetics. And, again, this is a certain thing of
swallowing your pride a little bit and acknowledging that, sometimes, you're
going to need some of these more introductory texts to just give
you that learning curve into understanding something which might be
slightly more complex. Particularly, these books are often written by people who
have spent their entire lives trying to understand these concepts or put these
concepts into practice or to build upon these theories and even the greatest
professors on earth aren't experts in everything. And so, if you're trying to
understand a new piece of theory or a new concept then these introductory
books can be really really helpful. Thirdly, and this kind of builds upon my
last comment, is to try and find a slightly more up-to-date book. I often
find that when you're trying to look at the very origins of a concept or a piece
of theory sometimes it can be quite a long time ago that that thing has become
conceived of. Even if it's as far back as the 1960s or 1970s even there can be
quite a large temporal gap in the kind of cultural fragments that someone's
drawing in or the context that they're speaking about. And so I'd suggest trying
to find a book or an article that potentially uses the same concept
but now because the references that they'll use will be slightly more
relatable in a current context. I certainly found this when trying to
understand concepts of space and place. Lots of the original theorists were
writing in the late 60s and the 70s and some of the context and cultural
context, social context, political context was just a little outdated and so I had
to do a lot of background research to be able to place what those
contexts were and to understand that political and social moment.
Whereas, in actual fact, when I managed to turn to some books which were written
far more recently, it was much easier for me to understand because I've got all
those reference points instantly and often I'll find those slightly more
recent texts will also use the English of now rather than the English of 50 or
100 years ago which would also help. And then, I often find that when I go back to
the original book which introduced these concepts, it's much much easier to
understand. Number four is to try and talk it through
with someone. Now, it might seem obvious to ask someone to explain a concept to
you, to find someone who is far more familiar with the term and with the theory
to explain to you in their own words how it works. But I find what is far more
useful is for me to try and explain a concept or theory that I don't quite
understand to someone else. Now, this can be someone who has a big knowledge of
this theory because their prodding and their question-asking can
be really, really valuable. But even just the process of talking through what you
think a theory is can start to place it into your own words and you might find
yourself unraveling what that theory or concept means just by talking it through.
And that might involve going down the wrong alley a number of times and having
to rethink your own thoughts but I often find just trying to vocalize what I
think a theory means can help me to fully understand it. And number five
indeed follows on from that once again and that is to try writing about it. I
definitely know that writing is part of my research process therefore I don't
really truly understand something until I try to put it into practice. And so
quite often I'll challenge myself to write a thousand words about some
concept I'm struggling with to try and put it into practice because,
actually, I'll find then that I have to wrestle with it. I think it's quite easy
when you're just reading something to kind of assume it to be really, really
difficult one so to try and put off understanding it.
But actually, having to put a certain theory or concept into practice forces
you to realize how far you've got to go or perhaps how close you are to
understanding a bit of theory. It might not be successful, you might find that
there are still huge gaps in your knowledge of that theory but what it
will often do is help you to solidify which bits you are understanding or
which bits you've still got a little bit more reading to do on. So, those are some
very introductory, kind of initial thoughts that I had on trying to
understand complex pieces of theory. And if you have any questions then please do
let me know or if you have any suggestions then, to be honest I'd be
very very interested to hear about them. Thank you so much for watching once
again if you've enjoyed this video then please do consider subscribing or giving
it a thumbs up. Thank you very much and I will see you
shortly!