Issues
Posted on | April 27, 2006 |
Just wrote an email to the CSAA-forum asking for input for a panel I’m speaking on at the Crossroads conference (this is in addition to the workplace culture panel I’m doing with Kate). The idea is for ACS board members from different regions to talk about industrial issues in their part of the world so that we get a sense of the institutional status of cultural studies in different regional formations. As the youngest board member I’ve also offered to speak about some of the particular circumstances faced by a younger generation of cultural studies researchers, for instance, issues raised in these blog posts and exchanges. Maybe I could smuggle Glen into my suitcase!
Things I thought would be interesting to discuss include:
-emerging strengths in Australian cultural studies research, eg. new centres for funded research & new projects
-the effect of government funding and/or rhetoric on cultural studies research
-changing employment trends post- ‘Work Choices’ and pre-RQF
-what the RQF will actually involve
-what all of these things mean for younger academics
Maybe people reading here would like to add their thoughts, experiences and ideas. What should I talk about?
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5 Responses to “Issues”
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April 28th, 2006 @ 11:39 am
greg wants to smuggle me into the room for the deleuze conference. so much smuggling. like pirates. arrrr.
i am pretty sure i will have to ramp up the gym sessions if I am going to make it under the 20 kgs baggage weight limit.
anyway, taking care (and i choose the word ‘care’ carefully) of younger phds and post-docs is important. we don’t want mummies, but we don’t want bastards that are easier to hate:
1) some other funding arrangement beyond the project-based or sessional-teaching-based (both ‘event’-based) is needed. here i mean on a must-pay-the-rent level. maybe i am paranoid about this stuff and this is largely irrelevant. the point you raise about workchoices doesn’t matter because short-term contracts determined by the employer are the norm in academia.
2) ways to involve people in the ’scene’ more. firstly, ok, there has to be a scene. secondly, how do people get involved and at what times.
April 28th, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
On 1): The norm for us. But short-term contracts *aren’t* the norm for the majority of the people in my department. Who are over 40. And, because of the security of tenure, have put teaching and admin roles before their research, and will be under some threat when the RQF comes in. That’s what I understand based on the UK model.
On 2): What is the scene? And who do you want to involve?
April 28th, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
Is there an organised mentoring avenue for recent grads or upcoming, or is it all de facto?
Perhaps also some discussion about non-traditional academic work choices, and how to involve those who don’t have academic positions?
ps. thanks in advance Mel for going and speaking on the issues that concern a lot of us .
Glad someone is organised enuff to do it
What do you mean by ’scene’ Glen ?
April 28th, 2006 @ 2:11 pm
’scene’? well like a ‘music scene’ but in academia. when you know that if you go to a conference and you will see certain people there, and you may have certain conversations, or if you are surprised when this doesn’t happen, that is when you are part of a scene.
The scene is the topological space of affect that precipitates around the various material and immaterial (or, if you like, hard and soft) infrastructural levels that support a given (in this case, scholarly/intellectual) pursuit. The different elements of infrastructure impact the different dimensions of the ’scene’. The nature of participation and belonging to a scene presupposes a political economy determined by the infrastructure. I take enriching the ’scene’ tobe a political goal. This requires ‘churn’ and ’stability’, hence the distinction between belonging and participation. This has to be enabled, created, not assumed.
I am setting up ’scene’ in direct confrontation (not mere opposition) with ‘career’; it is in part my response to the points I raised earlier (in the above linked posts) regarding careerist noblisse oblige. It is problematic when people are only or mainly concerned about the infrastructural requirements of maintaining their own place in the scene. They know the importance of the scene and their participation as well as anyone. The problem is that the scene is prepersonal and collective, but experienced on a subjective level.
May 15th, 2006 @ 12:36 pm
[...] I haven’t written much lately - firstly because there is an exciting new updated blog design on the way and I have been looking forward to coming back new and improved (no pressure, Nick!). But also I’ve been a bit reticent to say that I’ve had to pull out of going to the Crossroads in Cultural Studies conference in Istanbul (the one that I’ve been helping to organise and that I had planned to speak at - not once but twice). Three of my fellow panellists pulled out at the last minute. Besides being frustrating, this made it hard to justify going to the other side of the world, especially to speak with someone I can fly to Sydney to see in an hour. While I also had the association work to contribute to, that kind of work isn’t treated as research output in terms of the faculty grant I’d be travelling on nor hiring committees who will be looking at my publication record in a year’s time. Plus the grant would only be covering half of my airfare, leaving me severely out of pocket. I have since realised that people now plan two panels for international conference on the presumption that at least one will fall through. Yet another annoying quirk of academic life: people not thinking about whether they will actually be able to do something they say they will do. I’m beginning to realise that one of the most important skills to learn in this business is to say ‘no’ often enough. The trouble with a conference as big as Crossroads is that you are lucky to have even a dozen people come to a parallel session. If you are coming from any distance (and Australia always is) the panellists really do have to be worth the time and effort to get to meet. Of course, going to an international conference the size of Crossroads is always worth inestimable amounts in terms of exposure to new ideas, international trends, general networking and being seen, but for the moment I feel like I’ve done enough of that; indeed, that my own research is beginning to be affected by prioritising conference attendance over engaging in longer periods of research. It’s hard to start thinking so strategically. But, on a personal level, I don’t want to be the kind of academic that speaks at every possible opportunity. I want to be able to be proud of the research I present, and it is hard to do that when you are only ever writing to the next conference deadline. I also want to be able to look after myself, and the environment - going to an international conference because I can doesn’t mean that I should. So, at this stage I’m staying in Australia for the rest of the year. I’m gonna read books. I’m gonna write stuff. I think that’s what a research fellow is supposed to do, at least some of the time. [...]