New definitions for old things
So, I was IMing with GSpice, and we realized that what TUWSNBN really needs is an alternate catalog: something that describes things the way they really are. After the past week of committee infighting and crazy events (did you know that people actually run off to join the circus? I had no idea.) I know I could use a laugh. Plus, I should be grading papers, so I'm eager to do something (anything) else.Some initial suggestions:
Quantitative Analysis: how to get SPSS to say what you want to hear
IR Theory: a bunch of dead white guys that we all think we agree with and force students to read because that's the way it's always been
PhD Student: underpaid substitute target for getting back at the people you really hate for no evident reason beyond the fact that they disagree with you about something; clearly without thought processes or opinions of their own but instead controlled remotely by influential or subversive faculty members
and from GSpice:
Academia: a way to save the world using data sets
As you may have guessed (and, if you've talked to me in the last week, you've heard directly), there's a little (okay, a lot of) bitterness going around right now in certain circles; I'm waiting to blog about the current example of university bass-ackwardness until the chips hit the table next week. Stay tuned to find out if the champions of methodological pluralism defeat the evil army of statistical assimilation.
Until then, feel free to add your own definitions in the comments: if we like them, they'll be made into a post. Or not. I make no promises.
posted by Elizabeth @ 5:48 PM
2 Comments:
May I point out that "my" academia right now involves people being shocked at students daring to "clarify" their methodologies (instead of jumping in to talk about empirics), thinking that discourse analysis only works to "reveal" underlying ideologies (blasted terrorists...they must have a reason for being so) and calling each other "ambitious" and wondering (later, in private) "whether it might not be better to scale down a bit of your work"
Academic contexts, eh?
At least the fight lines at TUWSNBN are more clearly drawn :D
Clear, as in we know where everyone is, yes. Clear, as in we know why they're choosing these positions, not so much. And my sympathies on the "discourse reveals reality" issue--the WHO article from hell is stuck fast on my reluctance to call WHO officials and find out "whether what the WHO publicly says fits with what they really think" in order to test the accuracy of my discourse analysis. The difficulties of treating discourse as a testable hypothesis escape certain people, I guess.
So "ambitious: attempting a project that can never be completed in the time alotted despite all advice to the contrary in some perverse belief that doing things right is its own reward"
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