We’ve asked some of our Asian Studies faculty, staff and students to share their experiences on working from home. Dagmar Schwerk, Khyentse Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Tibetan Buddhist Studies, has rediscovered her love of music, in particular playing the violin!
What are some problems you may have encountered during the transition to remote working?
- In March, the priority was on teaching – to steer our students as best as possible through the rest of the term. In the case of my class, which was pretty small, things went mostly smoothly also due to the great job UBC IT did. In the beginning, working from home in itself was not such a challenge for me personally (besides some equipment issues), because I am used to doing that over long periods when writing anyway.
- However, the biggest challenge and question in this situation for me personally as a junior scholar remains: What ramifications will this pandemic have on research, funding, and academic culture? As this will realistically go on for some time, despite plenty of wonderful online offers, at this point, it feels a little isolating,
How did you cope with the problems to ease the transition?
- I tried (and try) to stay connected as much as possible on all levels, such as with family, friends, colleagues, and researchers in my field. But I also learned to clearly prioritize how to handle the online information overload and to find my individual way of “dealing” with things.
Describe one new thing (skill, interest, pastime, etc) you may have learned during the quarantine time
- It’s not a new skill, but I got back into practicing violin. My previous teacher from Hamburg kindly offered me lessons in Zoom – something I’d never have started without the situation. Now, I’m nearly done with a lovely Mozart sonata, some Bach and Schumann pieces. Right now, I’m actually feeling a little sad that I’m back to “normal” again and don’t have time for this anymore. But what I learned from it is – being creative with whatever outcome (just for oneself) – is something I’d love to do more in the future.
Any medium (music, books, cooking recipe, etc.) you could recommend that you’ve found relaxing/entertaining recently?
- Best media: Nature, meditation, online live-concerts.
- Hope@Home on ARTE Concert: Back in March during the lock down, the violinist Daniel Hope began a series of daily brief concerts live from his living room in Berlin (of course, following social distancing). He invited artists and friends for these spontaneous concerts (“Hauskonzert”) – to share some warmth, positivity and comforting music in these challenging times. During the first time, this became an inspiring and soothing morning routine for me. Daniel Hope is such a great entertainer and story-teller, so, if you’re interested in how Beethoven emotionally dealt with being deaf…. (In the end, I think, they were 70 episodes with around 200 artists, streamed several million times worldwide, and even a best of album.)
During this time, have you sought/found any words of wisdom or quotes from your language area/culture/background that you have found to be particularly comforting, and could share if so?
- For me, “words of wisdom” I could connect with during this pandemic came all down to the same: to be sensible, grateful, patient, and kind with ourselves and others. This also means to repeatedly remind me of the fact that during a pandemic, however hard we try, we do things imperfectly, and it’s all trial and error.
- When I think of the frontline workers who put themselves at risk every day (in hospitals, shops, transport, public service, agriculture, and many more areas), it really resonates with one of my favourite verses of a great 8th-century Indian Buddhist master, Shāntideva:
All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
Shāntideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997), 20.
As a thank you for your time in answering these questions, is there anything personally you’d like to promote or let everyone know about right now?
- Indeed, I’d like to say a few words about my forthcoming first monograph. This is something I’ve been spending my time with most of the summer – the end is in sight now, and it will be published soon! As being a scholar in Tibetan Buddhist Studies, my book mostly deals with a longstanding philosophical debate about a controversial Buddhist doctrine and meditative system in the Tibetan Buddhist worlds – interpreted by an eminent 20th-century Bhutanese Buddhist master.
- However, I believe it has, on top, lots to say about things that I’d love to discuss with my colleagues here at the Department of Asian Studies and UBC: How did oral discourses form into elite textual traditions in pre-modern Asian societies; how are religious identities formed through trans-regional knowledge exchange, literal production and printing; what role does religion in Buddhist societies play in particular in times of crisis; how did religious institutions and doctrinal agendas change in 20th-century societies…and more!
To read more Inspiration in Isolation stories, click here!
