A distinctly unoriginal take on the pathologies of overvaluing academic “novelty.”
Get off my lawn! Are journal demands for “novelty” creating a culture of low-level academic dishonesty?
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Academia
Gone Missing from Grand Strategy: Climate Change
This is a guest post from Jeff Colgan, Richard Holbrooke Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University. He is author of Petro-Aggression:...
Want to Improve Equity and Inclusion in Political Science? Address White Supremacy
Last week, the American Political Science Association released a milquetoast statement on the January 6 white supremacist attack at the U.S. Capitol that got buried in the onslaught of news...
Uncomfortable Conversations at a Distance: Lessons from Teaching the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Daniel J. Levine is Aaron Aronov Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Alabama, where he divides his time between the Departments of Political Science and Religious...
More Academia Posts
Researcher Trauma and Our Discipline
The following is a guest post by Cyanne Loyle, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. With the devastating passing of Will Moore, many of us in Conflict Studies have begun to discuss the impact of our work on our mental health. Talking is important. So is seeking help when needed. But there is more that we can be and should be doing. In January, I wrote a piece on research-related trauma and conflict studies. Will helped with this article. He thought it was high time that the field and the discipline had a serious discussion of mental illness. In this article,...
Will Moore: A Student’s Perspective
This is a guest post by Joseph K. Young, Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs and School of International Service, American University. The one piece of advice that my dad, an academic, gave me when I was applying to PhD programs was simple: choose based on who you will work with. With this in mind, I screened potential advisors like I was a TSA agent. I interviewed them. I asked them about their future plans, how old their kids were (thinking anyone with teenagers wouldn’t move while I was still working on my PhD), how they trained their students, and most importantly where their...
Will Moore: A Fierce Friend
Will Moore decided to punch out, as he put it. He left behind devastated friends, co-authors and students as well as family. I have been trying to put into words how I feel today. Will was upstaged by his suit I have known Will since I was a visiting assistant professor long ago. He and I were part of several workshops aimed at producing an edited volume--the finest one of my career. His feedback on my work then and his intense desire to produce excellent work were both very helpful as I was just getting going. Since then, we would chat at most conferences, and recently we started a...
Let’s talk about mental health
.@APSAtweets @MPSAnet @isanet We are losing colleagues to depressive disorders, & many others suffer silently. The pressure in our profession is insane & often unhealthy. — Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) April 19, 2017 Take care of yourselves political scientists. Hug a loved one. Phone a friend. Get outside. Get help if needed. — Josh Busby (@busbyj2) April 19, 2017 RIP Brother Will (Moore)! It's said that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Sometimes we are lucky enough to stand next to them. Peace — christian davenport (@engagedscholar) April 19, 2017 There have been some high...
An Academic Woman’s Rant of the Week: Service Discrepancies
There’s a new article today on Inside Higher Ed that talks about recent research in the journal Research in Higher Education on discrepancies in faculty service loads. Not surprisingly, the article finds that “women faculty perform significantly more service than men.” I think this is known; it’s why a lot of women are counseled to just say “no” whenever possible. As the article states, women are just more likely to “take care of the academic family.” Groan. What is, perhaps, somewhat surprising are the differences in the types of service that women and men perform. Women are more likely...
The Trump Syllabus: Duck Input Needed!
Even though ISA provided some much-needed group therapy, in the end we still need to grapple with and teach about #45. I was inspired by some ideas in syllabi 1, 2, and 3, but I also needed some background information and topics that are geared towards a non-American audience. On top of it, I left the theme of one session open for the students to decide on. So below is roughly what my students are in for at the University of Bremen. Any ideas how to improve it? Unit 1: Sources DEMAGOGUERY AND DEMOCRACY Finley, M. (1962). Athenian Demagogues. Past & Present, (21), 3-24. Further reading:...
Perhaps Our Incentives Are Not as Perverse as Believed: Are Citation Counts the Devil?
I have regularly seen stuff online or in academic publications complaining about professionalization and what it has meant for Political Science. The basic idea is that things were great before people became focused on stuff like citation counts, which has led to all kinds of perverse incentives. The main complaint, it seems, is that scholars will try to game citations and this will force them into bad habits and away from good work, like thinking big thoughts (grand theory). To be sure, as John Regehr illustrated so well, academics are smart at gaming systems: While the first one listed...
Friday Nerd Blogging Tribute to An Old Duck-ster
Robert Kelly used to blog here before he made the big-time on the BBC, so here's a salute via Friday nerd-blogging. BEAUTIFUL pic.twitter.com/EQo7JJJ8gW — Lindsey B (@lindseybieda) March 17, 2017