Writing a PhD Thesis in Counterpoint to its Traditional Map: Writing to and With Theories and Concepts Encountered in the Doing of Doctoral Studies

This article offers insights into challenges encountered in the landscaping of a doctoral thesis written in counterpoint with its traditional map. The inspiration behind the author’s thesis is a sixteen-year-old withdrawn from an English Further Education college on her first day. Consequently, the thesis troubles seemingly rigid orthodox academic structures and writing conventions, which potentially act as a barrier to learning. Animating the (non)methodological approaches of a PhD thesis written for everyone denied the opportunity of fulfilling their academic potential, this paper engages with speculative and experimental approaches to research, asking not ‘what is’, but ‘what if’.