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

Martin Packer mpacker@cantab.net
Fri Feb 23 13:11:35 PST 2018 

Speaking of geographic mobility…

Martin

ACADEMIC SEARCH 2018 - PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Department of Psychology at Universidad de los Andes (1st in Colombia, and 8th in Latin-America according to QS University Rankings), invites applications for a full- time professorial position with exclusive dedication, beginning August 2018.

Candidates are required to have a doctoral degree, as well as training and/or experience in one of the following areas:

Health and Clinical Psychology Social Intervention Educational Psychology. Organizational Psychology.

Responsibilities

The selected candidate will be expected to: develop research and/or intervention projects in his/her area of expertise and procure external funding; teach at the undergraduate, graduate and extension levels; and participate in the activities and institutional development of the department and university. Further information about the Psychology Department and the Universidad de los Andes can be found at http://psicologia.uniandes.edu.co

Academic Requirements

 Completed doctorate in Psychology or related areas.
 Experience in research and/or intervention projects, and publications in

scientific journals.
 Teaching experience is desirable, although not a requirement.

Position

The Department is interested in hiring a candidate in the category of Assistant or Associate Professor. A formal process based on the candidate’s qualifications and following university regulations will determine the salary and the specific category. Salaries and benefits are competitive in the Colombian context (for more information, please contact the department chair).


Procedure

Please send the following documents to the chair of the Psychology Department (in electronic or print format):

1. Curriculum vitae
2. Copy of relevant publications
3. Certifications of experience in research or intervention projects 4. Contact information of two academic or professional references

5. 3 page (maximum) essay detailing academic trajectory, research and professional interests, as well as possible contributions to the Department of Psychology at Universidad de los Andes

6. A course syllabus in the candidate’s area of expertise fitting the undergraduate program in psychology. Information about the undergraduate program can be found here: http://psicologia.uniandes.edu.co

The selection committee includes two Department of Psychology associate professors, the chair of the Department of Psychology, and an associate or full professor at the School of Social Sciences. The committee will ask short-listed candidates to deliver a public presentation about their research and academic perspectives to an audience of students and professors of the department and the university.

The Department may declare the call null and void, or keep it open until a person meeting the requirements for the position is identified.

Deadline: April 6th, 2018, 11:59pm (local time).

Incomplete documents or documents delivered after the deadline will not be considered.

Address

Please send application to: Diana Maria Agudelo, Chair, Department of Psychology, Universidad de los Andes. dm.agudelo932@uniandes.edu.co 



> On Feb 23, 2018, at 3:32 PM, David Kellogg <dkellogg60@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Shneideman, who invented a kind of "psychological autopsy" based on the
> linguistic analysis of suicide notes, remarks that one of the
> characteristics of depressive thinking is constricted options; this is a
> characteristic of tenured thinking too. So of course I agree with what has
> been said concerning geographical mobility as an alternative to social
> mobility.
> 
> Japan is currently seeking tenured professors who speak English, because
> they are reaching the end of their "translate everything" tether in one
> field after another. A friend of mine without any discernible publication
> record landed a tenured position in Kazakhstan. Korean universities are
> being evaluated this year, and one way they deal with this problem is to
> hire people with reasonably good publication records and offer very
> substantial financial rewards (as Helen has described) for research
> incentives. Not too long ago I knew a political economist who published
> three articles and bought a house back home in Sweden with the money.
> 
> But there is something to be said for downward mobility as well. William
> Empson, who lost his Cambridge post when a servant discovered a condom in
> his personal effects, ended up teaching in China. One of his most famous
> works was an indignant attack on Thomas Gray's defense of downward
> mobility. Gray had written:
> 
> The thoughtless World to majesty may bow
> Exalt the brave, & idolize Success
> But more to Innocence their Safety owe
> Than Power & Genius e'er conspired to bless.
> 
> Empson argued that this was a way of getting working people to accept
> downward mobility as they accept the inevitability of death. I think Empson
> is right as far as the eighteenth century is concerned: the precariat may
> owe their safety to Innocence, but this Innocence never quite delivered on
> reasonable food, clothing, and warmth to continue their studies, and so
> Innocence owes them big time.
> 
> The situation is a little different today. Innocence owes us food,
> clothing, and warmth, but not necessarily fame, tenure, and a life of
> leisured ease. Several people on this list have commented on how poorly
> written the article on leaving academia was; nowhere more so than where the
> author tries to convince us that we are losing something important in
> losing her work. She doesn't actually sound convinced herself.
> 
> I think it's perfectly all right to pursue something for the fun of it; but
> that means, almost by definition, that you will work largely without
> recognition, and often enough without pay as well. Of course, some people
> do get paid twice and even three times over: fun, recognition, and tenure
> too. The reason for that is not hard work--hard work is something we all
> have done--it's just dumb luck.
> 
> David Kellogg
> 
> Recent Article in *Mind, Culture, and Activity* 24 (4) 'Metaphoric,
> Metonymic, Eclectic, or Dialectic? A Commentary on “Neoformation: A
> Dialectical Approach to Developmental Change”'
> 
> Free e-print available (for a short time only) at
> 
> http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YAWPBtmPM8knMCNg6sS6/full
> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 12:35 AM, HENRY SHONERD <hshonerd@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Huw,
>> There is a clarity in what you say that I don’t usually get in reading
>> posts on the chat. Perhaps its the morning walk that I just took on a day
>> after I had one of my usual late-in-life nadirs. I am feeling better today.
>> Most posts on the subject line seem to be addressing problems of those that
>> are trying to get started in academia, but I think it applies to any stage
>> of development. Your post makes that clear to me. Thank you for that.
>> Henry
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Feb 20, 2018, at 1:57 PM, Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Well, I would say there is more to it than simply transfer-ability, which
>>> might be thought of as a good bureaucratic requirement. Really what is
>>> required is genuine development -- reorganisation of thought and
>> learning.
>>> That is what is significant at a personal level, which is also the basis
>> of
>>> insights and creative work (i.e. personal knowledge rather than second
>> hand
>>> knowledge). The researcher in the blog article does not evince this (with
>>> allusions to the nature of her training). There is the history school
>>> children learn, which largely concerns the use of memory, and then there
>> is
>>> the history of conditions, relations and processes, which concerns
>>> protracted thought. This developmental emphasis is what is lacking in
>>> institutions which is why I have frequently pointed it out.
>>> 
>>> This principle apples to "secure" jobs too. The jobs I have walked away
>>> from have been due to the overly narrow scope, where I felt it was
>>> necessary to be far more ambitious to achieve modest satisfaction, an
>>> ambition which included achieving the wider scope within the norms
>>> established. Similar issues pertain to my peripheral engagement with
>>> academia. Twenty years ago, after completing a masters in cognitive
>> science
>>> (a good year), I decided against pursuing any further formal education
>> with
>>> any immediacy due to my sense that what I was encountering in the subject
>>> (and related subjects) was fundamentally wrong or inadequate, but I
>>> couldn't quite discern what that was. So, for me, I had no interest in
>>> furthering the academic course at the time, because I was concerned with
>>> understanding, doing, discovering and development, not being a "good
>>> researcher". I was and am uninterested in the trappings of academia, what
>>> it looks like from the outside (with dubious ethics of promoting those in
>>> society who least need it) -- hence I am not too bothered about where the
>>> experiences come from. After all, if you want sound knowledge then it
>>> should be validated in places where it counts (in action), not in an echo
>>> chamber of words.
>>> 
>>>> From my (developmental) perspective academia appears to be chockfull of
>>> unproductive thinking. The lack of systems understanding in the social
>>> sciences (which has been pointed out by key persons for two generations)
>> I
>>> find to be quite incredible. This, as far as I can see, is the panacea to
>>> the stasis and lethargy that I have seen in certain institutions, where
>>> there are people in secure jobs with no interest in revitalising an
>>> institution (perhaps the same people who rely upon their status for
>>> authority). In the UK, in the social sciences, the whole social science
>>> infrastructure is built upon a notion of quality that is ignorant of
>>> systems -- that is the degree to which unproductive thinking has
>> penetrated
>>> social science.
>>> 
>>> Yet there is much more to it still. Recently I have also come to a
>>> surprising awareness that developmental prerogatives have rather a
>>> significant amount in common with spiritual ones. So I would offer
>> broader
>>> advice than Michael's of staying clear of hardship. It may be that in
>> that
>>> "nadir" something surprising may be discovered. For anyone with a passion
>>> "job security" is not a goal, at best it is a means to an ends, at worst
>> it
>>> is an obstacle.
>>> 
>>> Over and out. :)
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Huw
>>> 
>>> On 20 February 2018 at 07:12, Alfredo Jornet Gil <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 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
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>> 
>> 
>>

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