Dr Alex
@afedorov.bsky.social
Hong Kong & Asia | Religion, plurality & secularity
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Liminality | Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Liminality | Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
A week ago, in the US, I wrote that jetlag is an underrated research method.
Now it’s 1:29 am in Asia—I woke up at 21:00, danced a little, and finished the #RaveAsMethod draft for #AERA.
Now it’s 1:29 am in Asia—I woke up at 21:00, danced a little, and finished the #RaveAsMethod draft for #AERA.
November 29, 2025 at 6:54 PM
A week ago, in the US, I wrote that jetlag is an underrated research method.
Now it’s 1:29 am in Asia—I woke up at 21:00, danced a little, and finished the #RaveAsMethod draft for #AERA.
Now it’s 1:29 am in Asia—I woke up at 21:00, danced a little, and finished the #RaveAsMethod draft for #AERA.
Flying back to Asia—my beloved home.
What I love about trips is that you can start a long destination-related task on the flight out and finish it on the way back. Perfect loop closure. Repeat.
Life is a series of liminal spaces.
#Asia #Liminality #Travel
What I love about trips is that you can start a long destination-related task on the flight out and finish it on the way back. Perfect loop closure. Repeat.
Life is a series of liminal spaces.
#Asia #Liminality #Travel
November 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Flying back to Asia—my beloved home.
What I love about trips is that you can start a long destination-related task on the flight out and finish it on the way back. Perfect loop closure. Repeat.
Life is a series of liminal spaces.
#Asia #Liminality #Travel
What I love about trips is that you can start a long destination-related task on the flight out and finish it on the way back. Perfect loop closure. Repeat.
Life is a series of liminal spaces.
#Asia #Liminality #Travel
Diets reduce to “eat less, move more.”
Writing reduces to “fear less, write more.”
This Joli Jensen line has been stuck in my head for days—
brutal and liberating at the same time.
#Writing #AcademicWriting #WritingPractice #Creativity
Writing reduces to “fear less, write more.”
This Joli Jensen line has been stuck in my head for days—
brutal and liberating at the same time.
#Writing #AcademicWriting #WritingPractice #Creativity
November 27, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Diets reduce to “eat less, move more.”
Writing reduces to “fear less, write more.”
This Joli Jensen line has been stuck in my head for days—
brutal and liberating at the same time.
#Writing #AcademicWriting #WritingPractice #Creativity
Writing reduces to “fear less, write more.”
This Joli Jensen line has been stuck in my head for days—
brutal and liberating at the same time.
#Writing #AcademicWriting #WritingPractice #Creativity
A lot of conferences recently. Trying to build an EQ-effective routine.
What seems to work:
Paper talk → networking → goals (collab, etc.) → two focused writing days → one recovery day in a museum or in nature.
My unfair advantage is freedom with my time + pretty good understanding of emotions.
What seems to work:
Paper talk → networking → goals (collab, etc.) → two focused writing days → one recovery day in a museum or in nature.
My unfair advantage is freedom with my time + pretty good understanding of emotions.
November 26, 2025 at 8:47 PM
A lot of conferences recently. Trying to build an EQ-effective routine.
What seems to work:
Paper talk → networking → goals (collab, etc.) → two focused writing days → one recovery day in a museum or in nature.
My unfair advantage is freedom with my time + pretty good understanding of emotions.
What seems to work:
Paper talk → networking → goals (collab, etc.) → two focused writing days → one recovery day in a museum or in nature.
My unfair advantage is freedom with my time + pretty good understanding of emotions.
Staying in 500+ hotels taught me that hotel corridors are liminal spaces too—bright, abstract, a bit uncanny. Not quite public, not private. Not home, not really traveling; they hold your routines.
Half of my PhD was born in elevators. I once wrote a paper section in a casino in a Las Vegas hotel.
Half of my PhD was born in elevators. I once wrote a paper section in a casino in a Las Vegas hotel.
November 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Staying in 500+ hotels taught me that hotel corridors are liminal spaces too—bright, abstract, a bit uncanny. Not quite public, not private. Not home, not really traveling; they hold your routines.
Half of my PhD was born in elevators. I once wrote a paper section in a casino in a Las Vegas hotel.
Half of my PhD was born in elevators. I once wrote a paper section in a casino in a Las Vegas hotel.
Joli Jensen’s “Write No Matter What” has a beautiful idea: keep a “ventilation file”, where you dump obstacles, anxieties, and resistance so you can keep writing.
I’m convinced this is where #AI can help. It’s a 24/7 ventilation partner. Tell ChatGPT what’s blocking, and ask it to reflect it back.
I’m convinced this is where #AI can help. It’s a 24/7 ventilation partner. Tell ChatGPT what’s blocking, and ask it to reflect it back.
November 25, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Joli Jensen’s “Write No Matter What” has a beautiful idea: keep a “ventilation file”, where you dump obstacles, anxieties, and resistance so you can keep writing.
I’m convinced this is where #AI can help. It’s a 24/7 ventilation partner. Tell ChatGPT what’s blocking, and ask it to reflect it back.
I’m convinced this is where #AI can help. It’s a 24/7 ventilation partner. Tell ChatGPT what’s blocking, and ask it to reflect it back.
Jetlag is an underrated research method.
You wake up at impossible hours, the city is empty, and your mind goes sideways.
My risk tolerance and adventure hunger let me wander for a couple of hours if inspiration doesn’t strike (and it always comes).
Liminality first, coffee second.
You wake up at impossible hours, the city is empty, and your mind goes sideways.
My risk tolerance and adventure hunger let me wander for a couple of hours if inspiration doesn’t strike (and it always comes).
Liminality first, coffee second.
November 25, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Jetlag is an underrated research method.
You wake up at impossible hours, the city is empty, and your mind goes sideways.
My risk tolerance and adventure hunger let me wander for a couple of hours if inspiration doesn’t strike (and it always comes).
Liminality first, coffee second.
You wake up at impossible hours, the city is empty, and your mind goes sideways.
My risk tolerance and adventure hunger let me wander for a couple of hours if inspiration doesn’t strike (and it always comes).
Liminality first, coffee second.
#AAA2025 is such a cool gathering, by the way :)
I planned precisely nothing beyond my paper talk and Marriott writing time, and still ended up learning about disease prevention, eco-civilizational futurology… ten or twenty parallel streams (I’m not good at counting, and even the app doesn’t help).
I planned precisely nothing beyond my paper talk and Marriott writing time, and still ended up learning about disease prevention, eco-civilizational futurology… ten or twenty parallel streams (I’m not good at counting, and even the app doesn’t help).
November 24, 2025 at 1:01 AM
#AAA2025 is such a cool gathering, by the way :)
I planned precisely nothing beyond my paper talk and Marriott writing time, and still ended up learning about disease prevention, eco-civilizational futurology… ten or twenty parallel streams (I’m not good at counting, and even the app doesn’t help).
I planned precisely nothing beyond my paper talk and Marriott writing time, and still ended up learning about disease prevention, eco-civilizational futurology… ten or twenty parallel streams (I’m not good at counting, and even the app doesn’t help).
What’s fascinating about New Orleans is that it has no 7/11.
These are the places I visit most in America—maybe because I’ve spent half my life between Thailand and Hong Kong.
One day, I’ll probably write a book, “A Global Liminality: The Sociology of 7/11.”
The differences are wild—and below:
These are the places I visit most in America—maybe because I’ve spent half my life between Thailand and Hong Kong.
One day, I’ll probably write a book, “A Global Liminality: The Sociology of 7/11.”
The differences are wild—and below:
November 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
What’s fascinating about New Orleans is that it has no 7/11.
These are the places I visit most in America—maybe because I’ve spent half my life between Thailand and Hong Kong.
One day, I’ll probably write a book, “A Global Liminality: The Sociology of 7/11.”
The differences are wild—and below:
These are the places I visit most in America—maybe because I’ve spent half my life between Thailand and Hong Kong.
One day, I’ll probably write a book, “A Global Liminality: The Sociology of 7/11.”
The differences are wild—and below:
Somehow, New Orleans is even better than Hong Kong for suitcase runs.
Within a few minutes’ walk: six Marriotts, a Hilton, a Hyatt, and even a Best Western.
#HK #AAA2025 #TheHabitusOfStaycations
Within a few minutes’ walk: six Marriotts, a Hilton, a Hyatt, and even a Best Western.
#HK #AAA2025 #TheHabitusOfStaycations
November 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Somehow, New Orleans is even better than Hong Kong for suitcase runs.
Within a few minutes’ walk: six Marriotts, a Hilton, a Hyatt, and even a Best Western.
#HK #AAA2025 #TheHabitusOfStaycations
Within a few minutes’ walk: six Marriotts, a Hilton, a Hyatt, and even a Best Western.
#HK #AAA2025 #TheHabitusOfStaycations
My beloved Prof. Liz Jackson told me a few of days ago that she actually prefers reading to writing these days. (And she’s an incredible writer.) She’s probably right—I don’t remember Liz being wrong. But I love both writing and listening to audiobooks while walking long distances or cleaning home.
November 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
My beloved Prof. Liz Jackson told me a few of days ago that she actually prefers reading to writing these days. (And she’s an incredible writer.) She’s probably right—I don’t remember Liz being wrong. But I love both writing and listening to audiobooks while walking long distances or cleaning home.
Excellent book stands at #AAA. The books are just mind-blowing. I keep thinking I should buy a cheap suitcase on Canal St of amazing quality and fill it with books. Not going to happen. I have maybe three paper books back home.
November 21, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Excellent book stands at #AAA. The books are just mind-blowing. I keep thinking I should buy a cheap suitcase on Canal St of amazing quality and fill it with books. Not going to happen. I have maybe three paper books back home.
I don’t quite see the difference between #raves and #conferences. Walk and talk to smart, interesting people. Worse catering, no dancing—but a gym at the Marriott, proper meditation, and better sleep. #AAA #USA
Planning to talk at Ozora (and bring Euan). “Same Same but Different” Thailand (2009).
Planning to talk at Ozora (and bring Euan). “Same Same but Different” Thailand (2009).
November 21, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I don’t quite see the difference between #raves and #conferences. Walk and talk to smart, interesting people. Worse catering, no dancing—but a gym at the Marriott, proper meditation, and better sleep. #AAA #USA
Planning to talk at Ozora (and bring Euan). “Same Same but Different” Thailand (2009).
Planning to talk at Ozora (and bring Euan). “Same Same but Different” Thailand (2009).
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
November 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
November 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
November 15, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
November 14, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
After finishing Writing Down the Bones, I can’t stop reading and listening to Natalie Goldberg.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
After finishing Writing Down the Bones, I can’t stop reading and listening to Natalie Goldberg.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
Hoping to launch afedorov.com, but spending time creating content than fixing #WordPress menus.
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Alexander Fedorov - afedorov.com
afedorov.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Hoping to launch afedorov.com, but spending time creating content than fixing #WordPress menus.
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
The more I think about liminality, the less it feels like a threshold.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
November 12, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The more I think about liminality, the less it feels like a threshold.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
November 11, 2025 at 5:37 AM
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
November 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.