You probably associate fads with fashion and junior high school, but fads are very much a part of modern academic culture. Whole disciplines and sub-disciplines rise and fall in popularity, as do certain ideas and personalities, the influence of which will often cross disciplinary boundaries. The pernicious effects of this faddishness are most often felt by those who study something that is out-of-fashion at the time they enter the job market. The most savvy (if un-idealistic) graduate students will choose their programs of study and dissertation topics with an eye to what is fashionable. Just hope that your choice is still fashionable a decade hence.
If you have any doubts about academic faddishness, consider the French intellectual Michel Foucault (1926-1984), whose name and ideas have proven
wildly popular in academic circles. To see just how popular he is, try a little experiment. Google the name “Foucault.” Now Google the name “Aristotle.” This is an imperfect experiment, given that there is more than one Foucault, etc., but the results should surprise you. Is it even remotely possible to consider the influence of Foucault in the same league as that of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)? You can almost be forgiven for thinking so after a few years in graduate school.
Interesting. Try Einstein, Darwin, and Newton :)
ReplyDeleteThe faddishness of academia can work to your advantage or disadvantage. If you happen to chose a dissertation topic that fits within the current trends, then that just might make you more attractive to potential employers. On the other hand, if you choose a topic that is not currently in style, you may have even more difficulty getting support from your committee members, attaining funding, and eventually landing a job. Of course, you can also attempt to balance the two - choose a relatively "unpopular" topic and throw some trendy theories in there. The point is that you need to show that you know about the current debates in your field. Still, it is disconcerting to think that academia can be overrun by fads.
ReplyDeleteBut never, ever write a dissertation that questions the foundations of your fad, I mean field.
ReplyDeleteFaddishness is essentially institutionalized intellectual laziness. Diversity is the handmaiden of faddishness in that it provides these denizens of ineptitude an excuse to exclude anyone who dares to call them on their laziness.
ReplyDeleteA strategy for graduate school success if you're in English: Make a list of texts in Column A. Make a list of theories and theorists in Column B. Pick item(s) from column A and pair them with item(s) from Column B. Write your seminar paper/article/diss chapter. Make sure you do a little research first, just to make sure no one else has done this pairing before. If they have, just pick additional items from one or both columns and say that your argument "intersects" with the one by whomever that wrote about this combo of texts/theories already.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be especially in vogue, try pairing a few currently popular items with something not currently popular. Then all you have to do is argue that the currently popular item(s) help scholars "intervene" into (or "update" or "radicalize" or "deconstruct" -- pick your faddish verb) old conversations on the currently unpopular item(s).
An insightful reader suggested looking at Google Books metadata to see a clear graphical representation of the Foucault fad:
ReplyDeletehttp://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=Aristotle%2CFoucault&year_start=1700&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
Not just Foucault, but also Bourdieu and Baudrillard (if you're in the social sciences). MM
ReplyDeleteFaddishness is absolutely the worst aspect of the modern humanities. Unhappily, such stupidity isn’t a recent invention. Consder the following fragment from HERACLEITUS OF EPHESUS who was in his prime about 500 B.C.:
ReplyDelete“87. A foolish man is apt to be in a flutter at every word (or, 'theory': Logos).”
Kathleen Freeman (2008-12-16). Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Kindle Locations 425-426). Unknown. Kindle Edition.
This advice is too vague. One thing that's really worth knowing is the shelf-life of an academic book from the date of its publication. Can you guess how long it will take for that book's knowledge to be superseded by a future one, i.e. for how long will it be sellable? Universities on the whole do not give out that much information on what current grad students are studying, so it can be very difficult to find out whether one's PhD is original or not, and whether the ensuing book will be sellable.
ReplyDeletehey dumbass if you were actually in grad school you'd realize everyone says the Foucault fad is everywhere
ReplyDeleteEver notice how "Foucault" is an anagram of "U Fuc A Lot?"
DeleteOr maybe that should be: "Fuc U A Lot."
DeleteFaddishness doesn't just exist in humanities; it's in math and sciences too. Ask an algebraic geometer if he/she does it because he/she likes it, or because it's the hottest new style.
ReplyDelete