As a PhD candidate in my final(ish) year (I hope to submit by the end of summer, but COVID-induced library closures is making this difficult), it has occurred to me that I am extraordinarily bad at networking. 1/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

I only really began presenting at conferences last year; and though I'd been accepted to three for this year, all of them have been cancelled due to the global pandemic. 2/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

On top of this, I am quite a shy person who struggles frequently with impostor syndrome, which makes it difficult for me to "sell" myself when I do try to network. 3/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

So, I've decided to put myself out on a limb here and talk a little about what I do. If anyone feels so inclined, please feel free to reply, share, etc. as I would love to grow my personal community, especially in such an isolating time. 4/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians

I am a 4th-year PhD candidate, digital humanist, & digital historian studying #history & #ScottishStudies @UoG. My research examines the way that #language was used to exert control over #women, & through them, men in #earlymodernscotland. 5/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians

I look at printed #discourse texts to study the way that ambition was characterized, discussed, and vilified in #earlymodernscotland before examining the way this influenced attitudes towards perceived ambition in others. 6/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter

Ambition was almost universally vilified in #earlymodernscotland. Neither men nor women should be ambitious: women's ambition was thought to have been a manifestation of avarice and men's ambition as covetousness or pride. 7/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterhistorians #academictwitter

One of the most exciting aspects of my research has been the use of #wordembeddings and other #digitalhumanities methods to derive an historically appropriate characterization of ambition (spoilers: the word wasn't really used the same way we use it today). 8/14 #AcademicChatter

Instead, ambition enjoyed close semantic relationships with words like "avarice", "covetousness", "pride", and "envy". 9/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterhistorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

The way that "ambition" was employed, one can frequently use the word interchangeably with the others quoted above, so that when a person was described as "avaricious", one might imply that they were not ONLY greedy, but ALSO ambitious. 10/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterhistorians

The purpose of this vilification of ambition should be seen as a form of social control that reflects anxieties about people wanting more than their "fair share" of honour/glory/wealth/power. 11/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterhistorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

The discourse exists because there was worry about a rise in the ambition of individuals, which threatened traditional structures of power and authority. 12/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterhistorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

I could say so much more on this topic, but my thread is probably already too long. So, I will end by simply repeating that I hope that this little overview inspires some of you to reply or share! 13/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter #phdchatter

I would love to chat more about this with anyone who is interested, and learn more about all of the exciting work that everyone else is doing! 14/14 #AcademicChatter #twitterstorians #academictwitter #phdchatter