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Jobs and Not Getting Them
John Mcreery (jlm@TWICS.COM)
Fri, 3 Jun 1994 12:13:12 JST
As someone who lost his own tenure battle back when the current crazy
situation in academia was just beginning (1976), I can sympathize with the
pain and rage in John O'Brien's posts. As someone who makes his l
living in other ways and continues to do anthropology as an avocation;
Yee is right about it being something that's not only fun but doable
almost anywhere, I would urge us all to consider ways to remain
intellectually active outside the academic pale.My own issue is having
enough access to libraries, colleagues and students to keep my head
refreshed. Not very helpful, I know, to people who are having to worry about
how they're going to make a living. (I've been there. I know it hurts like
hell to put a lot of years into something and then not make the cut, especially
when the people doing the cutting seem less able than those for whom the
axe may feel like a knife in the back.) As a citizen and a busineperson,
I, too, wonder why people should be privleged to do what they're doing if
the market says there is no demand. Part of me says that the market itself
is a social construct that may be in need of modification. Another part
says why should academics be any better off than the tens of thousands of
middle management types who have found themselves obsolete with careers they
too spent years building smashed beyond repair.If you're thinking
anthropologically and considering acting politically, shouldn't you have a
look at the wider scene of which yours is only a part?
Hmnnnnn....
John McCreery (JLM@TWICS.COM)
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