tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post1128293078350917993..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Righteous Outrage from the Comments on the so-called Research GlutCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-16081228972788136312011-12-15T08:23:02.559-05:002011-12-15T08:23:02.559-05:00AMEN!AMEN!medievalkarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12440542200843836794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-1387100765560986692011-12-15T05:13:04.299-05:002011-12-15T05:13:04.299-05:00Thanks, Karl, for calling attention to this commen...Thanks, Karl, for calling attention to this comment, and thanks, Irina, for writing it. I’d like to endorse Irina's powerful articulation of the importance of subjecting ourselves to critical peer review, especially as that sentiment relates to the close of Jeffrey’s original post:<br /><br />“But you know, even if seven or eight people in the world ever read the book I'm working on, that is OK. My life has been profoundly affected for the better for having worked upon the project. My students, colleagues, family, and university have benefited in ways tangible and invisible.”<br /><br />I couldn’t agree more. Today is my last official day of research leave, and I find myself reflecting on the accomplishments and frustrations of this precious time. I believe it is extremely important for scholars to publish significant research projects, regardless of citation counts, since these make us responsive to the intellectual demands and offerings of others. And although this endeavor is thoroughly collaborative,(& the classroom shows the process of working through ideas better than anywhere else, probably), we should also continue to value the solitary struggles required of such work. <br /><br />Sabbatical leave, research release, and fellowship time remain crucial to the intellectual/pedagogical process. While I know that I benefit directly from conversations and engagements with scholars and students, I also need time away to nurture my own intellectual investments. Really, I should say, too, much of this time is spent figuring out how *wrong* I am about many of my presuppositions (including those I might have trumpeted in my original application for research time). During the past year I’ve spent a lot of time reading philosophers, mostly women, whose work I really had only “survey class” knowledge of before now (including Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Marion Young, Martha Nussbaum, Bonnie Honig, Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Annas, Elaine Scarry, and Seyla Benhabib). Many of these writers give me fits—I think some of them are deeply wrong about certain formations of politics and ethical life—but all of them make me confront my own assumptions with freshness and vulnerability (what Eve Sedgwick, with characteristic honesty and clarity, describes as being “pressed against the limits of my stupidity”). This confrontation, I believe, is most powerful for its terrifying, if somewhat fictive, solitude. Of course, I don’t labor alone (as my reading list—itself a compilation of reading suggestions from others—affirms). And I don’t intend to keep all this thought to myself, either. But time away to think, reflect, and revise is important to teaching and writing, too. If I ultimately do nothing citable with some of this reading, it will affect my students and colleagues, because it will have lasting influence over my thinking. <br /><br />So, while I applaud the collaborative scholarship model that is being developed at present, I will always believe in the importance of the traditional monograph, or the long scholarly article, as well. Even if monographs or journal articles have little direct “impact,” they make better scholars, teachers, and colleagues. As we formulate new models of research, Bauerlein’s reductive article demonstrates, we also need to be precise about the values of scholarly research (at once personal, collective, intellectual, and pedagogical) that we are seeking to enrich and protect. Impact isn’t everything, and many scholarly virtues, Jeffrey and Irina rightly note, are conferred invisibly but tangibly, in daily interactions that are both profound and mundane.Holly Crockernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-15555283556379925752011-12-14T19:50:04.860-05:002011-12-14T19:50:04.860-05:00"When I criticize my students' writing, I...<i>"When I criticize my students' writing, I want them to know that I do so in the faith that they will use that feedback to improve, and that I myself repeatedly subject myself to the criticism of my peers and superiors in the field."</i><br /><br />Amen.Kathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16096829586344513927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-20845616944927759972011-12-14T16:36:22.499-05:002011-12-14T16:36:22.499-05:00I should add a note: the discussions of writing an...I should add a note: the discussions of writing and publication are usually not on our syllabus, but I've found that students are really interested in finding out what their profs do the rest of the time, and how publication, peer-review, etc. work. No one ever talks to them about it! My students who have taken science classes tend to be much more familiar with the concept of peer review, but even then they might not know the step-by-step process of publication. <br /><br />This is also important to me from another perspective. When I criticize my students' writing, I want them to know that I do so in the faith that they will use that feedback to improve, and that I myself repeatedly subject myself to the criticism of my peers and superiors in the field. I want them to know that this is part of the process, not only of being a writer or a scholar, but of being a grown-up and a thinking individual. I'm not sure how I would do this if I <i>didn't</i> also put my work out there to be evaluated, improved, torn apart, by others.ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.com