Careers: June 2005 Archives

I was recently asked by a prospective grad student about which discipline would be the best fit for his interests in visual history in east asia. Here's part of my response:

Thank you for your e-mail. That's an interesting conundrum you have there. In a sense, disciplines are so amorphous these days that you could conceivable do an ethnographic project in a history department or history/film criticism in an anthro department for your PhD. However, the reality is that the job market is a bit more conservative and you should give some thought as to what would be a good fit. The most important question would be which division do you see yourself most in: humanities, social sciences, or fine arts? Who would you prefer to have as colleagues -- and who would you have evaluate your work?

Or, the other question might be, which journals do you see publishing your work? I'd spend some time browsing the main journals of the disciplines you're interested in. Note that there are many subdisciplines and so you should look at those as well. But in order to get tenure at upper tier colleges, you should have at least one article in one of the main journals of your discipline, so you should look through back numbers and see if anyone is doing anything similar to what you're interested in -- and is able to get published.

Comments, feedback, other questions?

People inevitably ask me if my job at Yale is "tenure-track." The academic world with the exception of Yale, Harvard, and John Hopkins operate on the tenure-track (TT) and non-tenure-track system (non-TT). This blog entry briefly discusses TT/non-TT systems at other institutions, and the bizarre senior/junior faculty system used by Yale, Harvard, and John Hopkins.

Many colleges and universities are now instituting third-year reviews for junior faculty. As a new faculty member you may be told that it is diagnostic or prognostic, that it's preparation for the tenure review, or that there is nothing to worry about because it is just a formality. The first two characterizations are true, the last one isn't -- third year reviews are increasingly being used to weed out junior faculty and you need to approach your third year review with caution.

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) announce the annual Abe Fellowship Program competition. The Program is one of the central components of CGP and is named after the late Mr. Shintaro Abe, former Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, who proposed in 1990 to establish the Center.

The BBC News is reporting on 'Fears over CIA 'university spies':

CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics. The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students, whose names are not disclosed, up to $50,000 (27,500) a year.

They are expected to use the techniques of "fieldwork" to gather political and cultural details on other countries. CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics. The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students, whose names are not disclosed, up to $50,000 (27,500) a year.