[Xmca-l] Re: (non)grieving scholarship

Mon Feb 19 23:12:24 PST 2018

Huw, Helena, and all, 

thanks to you both for taking the discussion where I was hoping it to go further: first, towards a reflection on the nature of training academic scholars go through as it concerns the classical problem of learning "transfer"; and then, as it regards the question of academic freedom (which actually may be the same question, just taken in a language more adequate to an ecological understanding of the problem). This is absolutely not just an individual problem. And, on that matter, I should be clear that I am a privileged in a privileged land, where, despite all uncertainty and pains that my family have gone and go through, I have today a good background and network, and probably better prospects than the majority of junior scholars out there. Not that I have earned this privilege for nothing: my migrant history and that of my family is all connected to an effort and quest to get better chances of academic opportunity in this market Helena talks about. But my personal story, as that of the historian in the article shared or of my French astronomer friend, are relevant in as far as they help us reflect on just those questions. They really also make one wonder on the sense of the term "academic freedom", for the latter term cannot be about doing whatever research you want to do independently of some market conditions and societal needs and economy. We may then pose the questions, what type of "freedom" is the "freedom" current systems (of incentives, of ISI lists) afford, and what type of system could allow for another meaning of the term "freedom"? 

Not to get too abstract, I guess that those reflections may be best pondered along concrete cases, if people is willing to take on Helena's suggestion to share particular stories of all that goes into getting into secured academic job positions, or else, of pursuing (in)dependent careers outside/at the borders of/across academia. 

Alfredo

________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com>
Sent: 19 February 2018 19:19
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: (non)grieving scholarship

In the interests of widening the discussion:

I’ve described my work history before on this list — basically, moving from teaching literature and writing (with stopovers in landscape architecture and theater production) to concern about the working conditions of teachers, especially academics in higher education, the 75% who are contingent/adjuncts. The concern is both for the people employed this way and for the integrity of the institutions that employ them. I eventually engaged this concern by working with and for the labor movement, ending up first working for the garment/apparel workers union in Philadelphia and then at the Labor Educaiton Program at the U of Illinois, from which I retired in 2010.

The new twist to this story is about the employment of academics on short-term contracts in Viet Nam, under conditions that seem to be increasingly frequent in the “developing” world, where the market for education is booming. University World News http://www.universityworldnews.com/  tracks this phenomenon and includes occasinal critical articles about the competition for rankings. The university where my husband and I have been teaching on and off since 2015, Ton Duc Thang in Ho Chi Minh City, recruits professors from all over the world with a promise of $2,000 per month US — but extending their contracts depends on producing articles published in journals on the ISI list; the nature of this list is worth taking a look at. The impact of this practice on the culture and student body is not all bad.

My point here is to place the issue of the challenge of getting a tenure-track job in a global context. This is not just an individual problem.

I’m willing to go further down this line of discussion. However, academics are often reluctant to reveal and compare their working conditions on an “academic” discussion list. Maybe by putting up the issue of what academic freedom requires, and how these requirements fare in the global market for higher education, we can shed the embarassment of revealing information about our own experiences with getting the brass ring of a full-time, secure job.

Let’s see if anyone picks up on this. Maybe I’m being too vague.

Helena Worthen
helenaworthen@gmail.com
Berkeley, CA 94707 510-828-2745
Blog US/ Viet Nam:
helenaworthen.wordpress.com
skype: helena.worthen1

> On Feb 19, 2018, at 9:19 AM, Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The article describes accumulating large amounts of knowledge pertaining to
> history, which (the author maintains) cannot be turned to other endeavours.
> This, no doubt, is true for her. If, however, her approach to studying
> history had been systemic, then there would have been a powerful form of
> re-application and continuity in any work that was turned to. Perhaps the
> same can be said for "phd/postdoc training". If it cannot be reused or
> isn't enabling, what, substantively, is it?
>
> Best,
> Huw
>
>
> On 18 February 2018 at 18:32, Alfredo Jornet Gil <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
> wrote:
>
>> Really inspiring words and work, Francine. I do see community colleges and
>> many other educational settings apart from universities as really valuable
>> and exciting opportunities; the PhD and following postdoc etc training in
>> universities, however, tend to be very much targeted towards a very narrow
>> spectrum of positions, or at least that's been my experience. I am very
>> happy that this thread may widen that scope and make visible other paths.
>> And as Mike suggested, it would be very interesting to hear from several
>> others who have followed distinct trajectories apart from the
>> phd-postdoc-assist/assoc. prof-prof, and yet made a career in touch with
>> most of what was developed in the junior (phd and few later) years.
>> Thanks!
>> Alfredo
>> ________________________________________
>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> on behalf of Larry Smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>
>> Sent: 18 February 2018 06:20
>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: (non)grieving scholarship
>>
>> Message from Francine Smolucha on a scholar's life with or without academia
>>
>>
>> Alfredo,
>>
>>
>> There are other jobs that pay well (sometimes with tenure and early
>> retirement benefits) - besides professorships at four year colleges and
>> universities.  Administrative and support staff positions pay well. And
>> don't overlook community colleges, technical colleges, and public grade
>> schools and high schools. There is also the private sector and government
>> jobs.
>>
>>
>> As a 'low status' community college professor, I managed to translate
>> Vygotsky's
>>
>> overlooked writings on creativity (back in the 1980's) and introduced his
>> theory of creativity to academia.  I got early retirement at age 53 and
>> continue to write and publish. While my Ph.D from the University of Chicago
>> gave me academic bona fides, it was the quality of the scholarly work that
>> ultimately mattered.
>>
>>
>> I was always inspired by the harsh circumstances of Vygotsky's life and
>> how he still kept on writing.
>>
>> [When I felt really sorry for myself, I would actually say "Well at least
>> I am not coughing up blood"]
>>
>> So many of his works were not published in his lifetime, he did not
>> collect a royalties check, and    they say he was depressed at the end of
>> his life.
>>
>>
>> I leave you with this quote from an ancient Sufi mystic -
>>
>>
>> You can't always get what you want but you can get what you need
>>
>>
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> on behalf of mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu>
>> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2018 7:07 PM
>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: (non)grieving scholarship
>>
>> Yours is a quandary shared by your generation, Alfredo.
>> Being allowed to teach and conduct research in a quality institution is a
>> great privilege and an
>> increasingly rarer possibility.
>>
>> There are several people on this list who have organized their lives to be
>> independent scholars
>> while staying connected to the core institutions of disciplinary training.
>> It might be nice to hear
>> the variety out there.
>>
>> It appears pretty certain that the situation is going to get worse
>> before/if it gets better.
>>
>> What can the collective experience of xmca come up with that would be
>> useful to the many
>> of you caught in this meat grinder?
>>
>> mike
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 17, 2018 at 4:49 PM, Alfredo Jornet Gil <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Good luck then, Wagner!
>>> A
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>>> on behalf of Wagner Luiz Schmit <wagner.schmit@gmail.com>
>>> Sent: 18 February 2018 01:07
>>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture Activity
>>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: (non)grieving scholarship
>>>
>>> This just hit me in the spot...
>>>
>>> Wagner
>>>
>>> On Feb 17, 2018 9:48 PM, "Alfredo Jornet Gil" <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have not been able to contribute to this list as much as I'd like to
>>>> lately, among other things, because I need to find a job, and I need to
>>>> make sure that I have checked all those boxes that selection committees
>>>> will check (enough first-authored publications? in good enough
>> journals?
>>>> enough leadership in projects? teaching? supervising? acquiring funds?
>>> more
>>>> than all others candidates? and more than favoured-for-whatever-other-
>>> reasons
>>>> candidates?). So I have been doing all I can these weeks to fill up a
>>>> competitive CV, for my contract is about to expire.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> And, although I did not think that it was particularly well written, it
>>>> was both relieving and discouraging to read this article (see link
>> below,
>>>> which I take from the facebook wall of a colleague who I think also
>>>> subscribes this list). The article makes visible the pain scholars go
>>>> through when, after so many years of digging and digging and digging a
>>>> little (but deep!) hole, may after all have to leave it and find some
>>> other
>>>> thing to do. In Canada, I met a French astronomer who was moving
>> through
>>>> the world with his lovely family, short-term project after short-term
>>>> project, getting better and better at what he worked on (apparently he
>>> was
>>>> among the few who had expertise in computer modeling simulating some
>>>> astronomic events) , and finally having to step out academia last year
>> to
>>>> find something else to do, for his family no longer could stand the
>>>> constant uncertainty and travelling. It could be me soon. And that may
>>> not
>>>> be a bad thing, or even a thing in itself, but the story seems to be
>>> quite
>>>> endemic to academia and may be interesting to some of you:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Everybody-Loses-When/242560
>>>>
>>>> Alfredo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>