94 years ago today Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thus commencing the First World War.
Things are still moving along here in Northern Ireland. This weekend differed from my usual activities because my buddy Brendan (Poz) from Loyola was in Belfast. I let him crash on the floor of my room, and since he was staying with me, we pretty much spent the entire weekend together.
I picked him up from the bus station about noon. We came back to Queen's so he could drop off his stuff then we went to check out the mural paintings in the Falls Road and the Shankill Road (Catholic/Republican and Protestant/Loyalist, respectively). Poz had a guide book that we were using as our reference point, but the problem was that for both the Falls and Shankill there only existed a small inset map and not a map of the entire west Belfast area. Needless to say, there were many wrong turns taken. There is a big fence separating the two neighborhoods and it's somewhat surreal walking through the gates (which are closed at night) between the two areas. The murals themselves were fascinating. Along the Falls Road the murals generally focused on Bobby Sands and the H-Block Hunger Strikers, as well as other moments and ideals of Republicanism. In the Shankill Road there was a distinct theme of violence that I found very interesting, especially when juxtaposed to the Falls Road and the typical villainization of the IRA (I don't want to sound like an IRA apologist, I'm not by any means). People don't hear as much about the UVF and other Protestant para-military groups as they do the IRA. But in the Shankill road militarism was ALL OVER their murals. There was even one dedicated to a particular soldier who earned the moniker "Top Gun" for taking out so many of the "others." A whole wall on the side of a house for this guy. It really makes you think.
After we looked at the murals, Poz wanted to go see the grave of Bobby Sands. Mind you we started in the Falls Road, worked our way north and then back east through the Shankill Road. To get to Sands' grave we had to go BACK down the Falls road, i.e. the road we walked down once already, plus an extra mile or two until we found Milltown Cemetery. And it was a huge cemetery. The guide book said the Sands' memorial was on the right hand side just after you walk in the main gates. That wasn't exactly true. We wandered around trying to find the area described in the book, but couldn't find it (the pictures in the link resemble the description in the book, but not what we actually found at the cemetery; weird). Finally we asked a gentleman walking through the cemetery and he pointed us in the right direction. In the meantime he told us that a bunch of the Hunger Strikers were there as well as some of the folks from the Gibralter Incident. He told us that when they were burying the Gibralter victims that loyalists threw grenades at the mourners. He seemed pleased to tell us that even though they ran toward the motorway, the loyalists were caught. The way he said it suggested that they weren't just apprehended and taken off to jail. But it was probably about a city block's distance to the grave sites of Sands and the other Hunger Strikers buried there. Just inside the gate my ass! The cemetery was clearly a Catholic one and Nationalist/Republican. What really struck me was that there was a sizable Great War memorial in the cemetery. Probably the LAST place I would expect to find one of those would be in the same cemetery where Sands, et. al. were laid to rest.
By this time we'd been walking for over 5 hours straight. Since we had been walking south, I figured we could just find an east/west road and try to get back to Queen's. So we asked for directions at a shopping center, but they weren't too helpful. And so I did what I very rarely do. Called a cab. We took a cab back to Queen's. Of course once I saw the route that we took, I realized it only would have taken us another 45 min or so to walk back because I recognized where I was after about 3 turns and 2 traffic lights. Oh well.
Then we went to the Tesco to get some food for dinner. We bought a couple oven pizzas and cooked those up. Then we went out to find a decent pint. But first we had to walk back to the city center to find a specific ATM so Poz could get out money without any fees, or so he hoped. After getting cash, we tried in vain to find a bar that wasn't packed, loud, and full of DB's. Every place we went to was absolute garbage. Even the old fashioned pub turned chachie on Saturday night. We ended up at a hotel bar. There was a wedding going on and some of the wedding-goers were at the bar. We made nice with some of them and they bought us drinks, so that made it worthwhile. One of the guys kept trying to get us to drink Diesel, which, as he told us is for Belfast because Belfast is hardcore. It consists of 2 shots of vodka, 1 red bull, and Magners (hard cider). Poz eventually tried and said it was good. I had no desire to imbibe any such concoction and took his word for it.
When we got back to Queen's a security guard stopped us and asked to see our room keys. I displayed mine, but Poz didn't have one. So we BS'd the guy and said he had to get his bag out of the room so he could go to his hostel and the security guard let Poz through under the provision he came back out. Of course he didn't, but the guy didn't have my name or room number so score one for us.
On Sunday we got up late and went out to do some more sight-seeing. We trekked through the TItanic Quarter, which was a real disappointment. Although they did have the HMS Caroline on the display there which served in the First World War and was at the Battle of Jutland in 1915. Unfortunately, people aren't allowed on the boat. So that sucked, but it was cool to see. On our way back from the Titanic Quarter we stopped at the Crown Bar for a pint because it one of those places you HAVE to get a pint in Belfast. Then we made our way back toward Queen's and Tesco's again to get food and beer. I had no interest in going out again after all the walking we did Saturday and Sunday. So we made food, had a few beers, and shot the shit.
This morning we got up early and went to breakfast. Then we headed downtown. Poz took the bus to Dublin and I went to the Royal British Legion office in Belfast. I got there around 9am and worked there until about 1pm. They had minute books of the British Legion (Ireland) Northern Branch HQ since 1919 (pre-dating the founding of the actual British Legion itself!). So I went through those and took pictures of all the minute books from 1919 until early 1942. The interwar years is the most important and I was quickly running out of memory (and that's with a 2GB memory card).
The folks who worked at the were great. They asked me if I wanted to go out and get a pint so of course I said sure. One of the guys told me they go out for a pint in the afternoon every Wednesday. As he said that I looked at my watch to double check that it was in fact Monday. Apparently they started going Wednesdays. Then Wednesdays and Fridays. Then MWF, then everyday. So they have Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Wednesday, Wednesday proper, Thursday-Wednesday, and Friday-Wednesday. They only go for 1 pint, but it was cool to talk to two gentlemen I went out with, both ex-British Army.
After the pint break, I bid the guys from the British Legion adieu and went over to the Belfast Central Library. I wanted to check out their newspaper library in preparation for my planned visit tomorrow. I went through their holdings and made a list of titles I'd want to look at so I should be ready to go in tomorrow guns blazing. There was a guy there taking digital photos today, so I'm glad to see I'll be able to do so as well. Although, I'm starting to run out of space on my hard drive. I have one blank DVD with me, but I might have to go buy a few more. It'd probably be wise to have a back up of some of these things any way. I think I've got about 12GB worth of photos though.
So the rest of this week will probably be split between the Central Library and the Somme Heritage Centre. I called there this afternoon, but the guy I needed to talk to wasn't in. Of course. So I'll call back tomorrow and hopefully get something set up for later this week.
(Pictures to be added later)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
PRONO!
It was too good to be true. Things were going far to well in Belfast not to hit some sort of snag. This morning I got snagged. I've had a very productive week at PRONI and it showed. I think I had something along the lines of 50 pages of typed notes from all the materials I had looked at so far. Before I left for PRONI this morning I opened Word to get the file ready for action. I tried to scroll down to the bottom of the page, but it said there were only 2 pages in the file. So I did a Spotlight search on my computer to see if I misplaced a file or something. Nope. That was the only PRONI file on the machine. Pages and pages of notes, hours of work, gone. What I think happened is this: When I was typing everything up over the past three days I was forgetting to put page breaks in to ensure that each file has it's own page. That helps reduce confusion later. Well I must have had most of the document's text highlighted while inserting the last page break without noticing it, or something along those lines because the only thing remaining was the last thing I was working on at the end of the day yesterday. Once I saved and quit the program there was no chance of getting anything back, let alone the following day. What a huge pain in the ass. Right? Luckily, today just happens to be the one day of the week when PRONI is open late, so I have time to go through everything. And I did. I put my grant money to use and just ordered copies of everything I had already taken notes on. Fortunately, since I had a pretty fresh memory of the pertinent files I was able to get everything done by about 3:00pm, after about 4.5 hours, and move on to stuff I hadn't yet seen. So yes, the situation sucks, but if it was going to happen, it happened at the right time because I had time to get everything back. So it could be worse. At least I'm finding useful material and PRONI will post it home for me so I don't have to bother carrying the stuff around. I think that qualifies as turning lemons into lemonade. For my efforts, I'll have a beer tonight!
A few other observations: Every where I go in Ireland I run into Italians. Does Italy have some obsession with Ireland the rest of world needs to know about? I had an Italian roommate in Dublin (Carlo was great), then in Cork and Belfast there are large groups doing something (Lord knows what) under the auspices of some program. When I was in Derry there was another group of Continentals, that I assume was Italian based on deductive reasoning since their speech sounded like a romance language, but didn't sound like Spanish or French. The most annoying thing that all the groups have in common (not Carlo, like I said, he was the man) is their proclivity toward being out of doors while using voice decibel levels incongruent with whatever time of day it is. Perhaps I'm becoming a curmudgeon? Who knows.
I will say that the current crop of Italians in Belfast obviously didn't get the memo that the 80s are over. Numerous people, male and female, are rocking serious mullets. You can tell that these mullets are carefully stylized coifs and not the result of some brooding passive-aggressive spite. These are by far the worst mullets I've seen since I've been here, and there are a lot. How do Europeans not think that mullets look completely ridiculous? I blame soccer players.
Also, I've noticed that people, at least in Ireland, have an aversion to picking up after their dogs. Not only have I espied dog shit on numerous sidewalks, but yesterday I had the benefit of stepping in a huge pile of it. Granted, in Chicago no everyone picks up after their dogs. I've noticed some repeat offenders on our street, or at least people who walk their dog on our street. I have a feeling they do so at night. That, or their dog has an affinity for stealth crapping. But even so, they tend to crap on the grass, which, although still gross and not good for MY dog, it off the actual footpath, thus greatly reducing the chances for people to step in it. Not in Ireland. It's as though they're afraid to spoil all the green that surrounds them with dog poo. I don't even see people carrying plastic bags when they walk their dogs.
A few other observations: Every where I go in Ireland I run into Italians. Does Italy have some obsession with Ireland the rest of world needs to know about? I had an Italian roommate in Dublin (Carlo was great), then in Cork and Belfast there are large groups doing something (Lord knows what) under the auspices of some program. When I was in Derry there was another group of Continentals, that I assume was Italian based on deductive reasoning since their speech sounded like a romance language, but didn't sound like Spanish or French. The most annoying thing that all the groups have in common (not Carlo, like I said, he was the man) is their proclivity toward being out of doors while using voice decibel levels incongruent with whatever time of day it is. Perhaps I'm becoming a curmudgeon? Who knows.
I will say that the current crop of Italians in Belfast obviously didn't get the memo that the 80s are over. Numerous people, male and female, are rocking serious mullets. You can tell that these mullets are carefully stylized coifs and not the result of some brooding passive-aggressive spite. These are by far the worst mullets I've seen since I've been here, and there are a lot. How do Europeans not think that mullets look completely ridiculous? I blame soccer players.
Also, I've noticed that people, at least in Ireland, have an aversion to picking up after their dogs. Not only have I espied dog shit on numerous sidewalks, but yesterday I had the benefit of stepping in a huge pile of it. Granted, in Chicago no everyone picks up after their dogs. I've noticed some repeat offenders on our street, or at least people who walk their dog on our street. I have a feeling they do so at night. That, or their dog has an affinity for stealth crapping. But even so, they tend to crap on the grass, which, although still gross and not good for MY dog, it off the actual footpath, thus greatly reducing the chances for people to step in it. Not in Ireland. It's as though they're afraid to spoil all the green that surrounds them with dog poo. I don't even see people carrying plastic bags when they walk their dogs.
Monday, July 21, 2008
PRONI, Day 1
If today is any indicator of the next two weeks, Belfast will be a very valuable stop on this research trip. Let's hope it is.
I got up and went to the student center located about 50 yards from my building for the provided continental breakfast. They actually had a decent selection of stuff and it was nice not to have to buy breakfast food. Up QUB!
It was just over a mile to walk to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which took about 20 minutes. No rain today and the temperature isn't too bad so I didn't mind it at all. I ended up getting there at 9:30am. Registration was a breeze. I spent a couple of hours going through their finding aids and online catalog compiling a list of sources I wanted to go through. I spent the afternoon going through the first batch.
I had a reference for the Irish Rugby Football Union from another book and I was greatly pleased with the material I found. A good deal of information about the organizations efforts to commemorate their fallen in WWI. Exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully more of that will turn up along the way.
Towards the end of the day I was approached by a gentleman who, I assumed, worked at PRONI. He asked, somewhat puzzled, if I, in fact, went to Loyola since I was wearing a LUC t-shirt. I confirmed that I did and I was there working on my PhD. He introduced himself as Sean Farrell from NIU, a name I have heard of - cool! He asked who I was working with, still seeming a bit unsure. I told him my adviser was Ted Karamanski and Andy Wilson was one of my readers. This seemed to make much more sense to him, especially after I told him who I was NOT working with, which, of course, did not seem to surprise him. He seemed to be on his way out, but said he'd be back tomorrow. He offered conversation over a coffee/tea break, so hopefully I can count Dr. Farrell as another good contact gained on this trip.
All in all, a good day at the archives. Hopefully this will be a recurring trend over the next few weeks.
I got up and went to the student center located about 50 yards from my building for the provided continental breakfast. They actually had a decent selection of stuff and it was nice not to have to buy breakfast food. Up QUB!
It was just over a mile to walk to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which took about 20 minutes. No rain today and the temperature isn't too bad so I didn't mind it at all. I ended up getting there at 9:30am. Registration was a breeze. I spent a couple of hours going through their finding aids and online catalog compiling a list of sources I wanted to go through. I spent the afternoon going through the first batch.
I had a reference for the Irish Rugby Football Union from another book and I was greatly pleased with the material I found. A good deal of information about the organizations efforts to commemorate their fallen in WWI. Exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully more of that will turn up along the way.
Towards the end of the day I was approached by a gentleman who, I assumed, worked at PRONI. He asked, somewhat puzzled, if I, in fact, went to Loyola since I was wearing a LUC t-shirt. I confirmed that I did and I was there working on my PhD. He introduced himself as Sean Farrell from NIU, a name I have heard of - cool! He asked who I was working with, still seeming a bit unsure. I told him my adviser was Ted Karamanski and Andy Wilson was one of my readers. This seemed to make much more sense to him, especially after I told him who I was NOT working with, which, of course, did not seem to surprise him. He seemed to be on his way out, but said he'd be back tomorrow. He offered conversation over a coffee/tea break, so hopefully I can count Dr. Farrell as another good contact gained on this trip.
All in all, a good day at the archives. Hopefully this will be a recurring trend over the next few weeks.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Out from the sweet town of Derry...
All is quiet on the western front. I'm moving east to Belfast in about an hour. I figured I'd make some quick notes since I have neglected to do so recently. This past week was fairly productive and overall better than I thought it would be. A quick recap in the on-going log of my dissertation research:
Monday: Bank Holiday. Everything is closed. Went to the Pub with Joe and Rich.
Tuesday: Woke up early and sauntered down to the bus station. Caught the bus to Enniskillen where I checked out the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers regimental museum. I was pretty impressed with it really. It was a small operation but very well done. I got to talking to one of the folks who worked there and he actually gave me some leads for Derry. So that was good.
Wednesday: Not too much. Went down to the Free Derry museum in the Bogside with Rich. It's a one-sided story (but understandably so) and a really interesting little museum.
Thursday: I met with Trevor Temple, who is the principle historian on the Diamond War Memorial project in Derry. We sat down for a bit and talked about various things. Trevor told me of some more sources down at the Harbour museum that they had neglected to mention, so I fired off an email to them when I got home. He gave me some additional tips and I walked away with a solid contact in Derry.
Friday: I was able to get back down to the Harbour museum and look through the aforementioned files. Thank God for the digital camera. Just snap pictures of everything and sort it out later. I had originally planned to go to Armagh to see the Royal Irish Regiment museum, but then I discovered that instead of a 2:45 bus ride from Derry with at least 1 connection, I could take a 1:15 bus from Belfast with no connections. Needless to say, that trip was deferred for a few days.
Saturday: I woke up late and did laundry. Then Rich and I went to Belfast for the afternoon. We got a few pints at the Crown Bar and met some crazy drunk lady who kept us entertained until it was time to catch our bus back to Derry.
When the dust settles, I have to say that I've enjoyed my time in Derry the most so far. Having a couple of roommates to do things with has helped greatly. But I think I collected some good material while I was here. I get the impression the next three weeks are going to go pretty quickly since there seems to be a lot of stuff to do in Belfast and my week in London is going to be a whirlwind tour. I'm probably leaving Derry at a good time though, because even though it's the least expensive place I've been thus far, I've probably spent more time and money on extracurriculars here than any where else along the way. I'm sure next weekend in Belfast might be similar since my buddy Poz is going to be in town, but I have a feeling it's back to my old hermetic routine. I haven't broken the bank yet, so it's probably a good time to do so.
All for now.
Monday: Bank Holiday. Everything is closed. Went to the Pub with Joe and Rich.
Tuesday: Woke up early and sauntered down to the bus station. Caught the bus to Enniskillen where I checked out the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers regimental museum. I was pretty impressed with it really. It was a small operation but very well done. I got to talking to one of the folks who worked there and he actually gave me some leads for Derry. So that was good.
Wednesday: Not too much. Went down to the Free Derry museum in the Bogside with Rich. It's a one-sided story (but understandably so) and a really interesting little museum.
Thursday: I met with Trevor Temple, who is the principle historian on the Diamond War Memorial project in Derry. We sat down for a bit and talked about various things. Trevor told me of some more sources down at the Harbour museum that they had neglected to mention, so I fired off an email to them when I got home. He gave me some additional tips and I walked away with a solid contact in Derry.
Friday: I was able to get back down to the Harbour museum and look through the aforementioned files. Thank God for the digital camera. Just snap pictures of everything and sort it out later. I had originally planned to go to Armagh to see the Royal Irish Regiment museum, but then I discovered that instead of a 2:45 bus ride from Derry with at least 1 connection, I could take a 1:15 bus from Belfast with no connections. Needless to say, that trip was deferred for a few days.
Saturday: I woke up late and did laundry. Then Rich and I went to Belfast for the afternoon. We got a few pints at the Crown Bar and met some crazy drunk lady who kept us entertained until it was time to catch our bus back to Derry.
When the dust settles, I have to say that I've enjoyed my time in Derry the most so far. Having a couple of roommates to do things with has helped greatly. But I think I collected some good material while I was here. I get the impression the next three weeks are going to go pretty quickly since there seems to be a lot of stuff to do in Belfast and my week in London is going to be a whirlwind tour. I'm probably leaving Derry at a good time though, because even though it's the least expensive place I've been thus far, I've probably spent more time and money on extracurriculars here than any where else along the way. I'm sure next weekend in Belfast might be similar since my buddy Poz is going to be in town, but I have a feeling it's back to my old hermetic routine. I haven't broken the bank yet, so it's probably a good time to do so.
All for now.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Peadar O'Donnell's
My roommates and I have been frequenting a bar in Derry called Peadar O'Donnell's. They have sessions nightly of traditional Irish music and only last night did I remember to bring my camera and snap a few pictures. These folks sound really good and even do a number of Neil Young songs arranged in a traditional Irish vein. Very cool! Brother Neil keeps the free world rocking for sure. (Side note: when I was in Cork, I was watching the weekly sports recap show on RTE and the music they played over the credits was "Rockin' In The Free World." Is there a connection between Ireland and Neil Young I'm missing? I mean he's from Ontario?!) Anyway, the set up for the session was two fiddles, a guitar, and a multi-instrumentalist who played Uilleann pipes, bouzouki, and a variety of whistles. I tried to get pictures of each.
From left: Rich, Rich's buddy, and Joe (Rich and Joe are two of my roommates. Nice lads.)
From left: Rich, Rich's buddy, and Joe (Rich and Joe are two of my roommates. Nice lads.)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The (potential) lies of academic pedigree
While updating myself on several of the blogs I read regularly I came across a few recent posts about the ever-present issue of the job market for history PhDs. Yes, it sucks. We all know that. What really bothers me is what I consider the cheapening of the PhD degree from certain universities. (See comment #34 here). The author of that comment, on the subject of requirements and expectations for graduate students states:
1. These “minimal intellectual attainments” are falling. Only 15-20 years ago graduate students in my field had to know both French and German. Now you can do it without either. My own institution’s doctoral program is anemic, but colleagues in “healthier” ones lament the decline of their incoming students in terms of preparedness, writing skills, analytical ability, self-confidence, and most other indicators of success common to academia and the more promising fields to which gifted students are increasingly attracted. Compare that with the ever more competitive admissions processes at elite undergraduate institutions and law and medical schools.
I cannot argue with all of these statements, but at the same time I think the situation is vastly over simplified. I look at my own academic career as an example. I am by no means an elite thinker, but I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I admit that my decision to go to grad school was pretty hasty, but I have busted my ass in school to try to make up for any shortcomings I had when I entered. The comment on foreign language really irks me. I have no problem with the requirement for foreign language knowledge. I know that I had to do a lot of French in a short period of time to get up to snuff. But the original poster's comment lacks context. Not all fields NEED foreign language knowledge. Yes, it may be helpful, but it's not always critical. The prevalence of English as a spoken and written language throughout the world mitigates, in many cases, the need for foreign language simply because so many sources are available for the native English speaker. Furthermore, Americanists generally have less need than say Europeanists. My focus in Irish history tends to push me closer to the Americanist camp simply because the sources that I need to conduct my work are in English. The trend toward easing these sorts of requirements is the result of recognizing this situation for what it is. If I was studying French or German history, it would be ludicrous to undertake either without fluency in each respective tongue.
The idea that there are more schools offering PhDs and granting degrees to students that otherwise wouldn't have them is insulting. Especially when you look at the limited number of openings at elite schools. Sure they can remain in their upper-echelon of the Ivory Tower, but to suggest that people from non-elite schools don't do good, important work is ridiculous. Because that is the impression given by commentators such as the one cited.
Intelligence is only one of many factors that determine which universities one applies and gets accepted to. Remember, applications are voluntary, so some really smart people might opt NOT to go to elite schools even if they could get in. Governing factors such as finances, location, program reputation, and, for undergraduates what one thinks they want to study, all color application choices. Personally, I wanted to teach secondary education when I as applying to undergraduate schools. In Michigan the two best programs for secondary ed were generally considered to be Michigan State and Oakland University. Those were the only schools I applied to. In hindsight, I probably should have applied to University of Michigan as well, but their program for what I wanted to study was not as good, so it made no sense at the time. I opted for Oakland University because it was smaller than MSU - I didn't want to be a face in the crowd and have TAs as instructors - and less expensive. Since I was geared toward secondary ed my history curriculum was slightly different than other history majors, and as a result I probably had fewer upper-level history courses, but the difference was probably only 1 or 2 classes overall and I rocked the upper-level courses I did take, generally getting really high grades from the toughest profs in the department.
When I made the decision to go to grad school, because of time constraints, I only applied to two schools - Loyola and Boston College. I got into Loyola and decided to go there. So my academic pedigree is Oakland University > Loyola University Chicago. Probably not the most impressive. But in reality, I have noticed that where you get your degree matters very little, no matter what people say. At conferences I have been amazed at the quality of work from people at a variety of institutions, including really bad work from people at elite schools, and really good work from people at Loyola type schools. Dr. Robert Bucholz, one of Loyola's faculty members who actually gives a crap about graduate students, has said that he'd put Loyola students in the same ring as elite schools any day. I always thought that was a bit of posturing on his end, until I started putting conferences together and seeing the kind of stuff being done. I would agree with him on that point. I know that I am always impressed with my forerunners at Loyola and how well versed they are in the discipline. As this post suggests, different tiered graduate programs serve different purposes. I think that is a better perspective on the issue raised here.
In the end, I recognize that the prospects of finding a secure/rewarding academic job is unlikely and that my opinion doesn't matter on the subject, because as Tim Lacy pointed out here the system for evaluating programs is inherently flawed. I'm not trying to say that Loyola is a top-tier school. Don't get me wrong. But it is a very good school, and there are a number of other factors (size of school/department, funding, necessity for part-time work, etc.) that contribute to Loyola's, and schools of it's ilk, being branded as "inferior" - a label that is then siphoned off to it's graduates in the academy. Are there some bad eggs at Loyola. Sure there are. But I'm sure people would be surprised at the similarities between our department and that of a top flight school, at least intellectually. In the end, isn't that what really matters? No matter where someone goes for their PhD they're going to bust their asses to finish the degree. At the same time, all the literature and commentary indicates that newly minted PhDs shouldn't expect their efforts to be acknowledged by a tenure-track job. Anyone who enters grad school with the mentality that that is the only acceptable situation for them are setting themselves up to fail. But I would hope that during the course of one's training as an historian (or any humanities field) that (s)he would be able to revise their thinking.
Basically I refuse to be labeled as an inferior historian simply because of where I went to school. In the words of W. Axl Rose - "Don't Damn Me!"
1. These “minimal intellectual attainments” are falling. Only 15-20 years ago graduate students in my field had to know both French and German. Now you can do it without either. My own institution’s doctoral program is anemic, but colleagues in “healthier” ones lament the decline of their incoming students in terms of preparedness, writing skills, analytical ability, self-confidence, and most other indicators of success common to academia and the more promising fields to which gifted students are increasingly attracted. Compare that with the ever more competitive admissions processes at elite undergraduate institutions and law and medical schools.
I cannot argue with all of these statements, but at the same time I think the situation is vastly over simplified. I look at my own academic career as an example. I am by no means an elite thinker, but I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I admit that my decision to go to grad school was pretty hasty, but I have busted my ass in school to try to make up for any shortcomings I had when I entered. The comment on foreign language really irks me. I have no problem with the requirement for foreign language knowledge. I know that I had to do a lot of French in a short period of time to get up to snuff. But the original poster's comment lacks context. Not all fields NEED foreign language knowledge. Yes, it may be helpful, but it's not always critical. The prevalence of English as a spoken and written language throughout the world mitigates, in many cases, the need for foreign language simply because so many sources are available for the native English speaker. Furthermore, Americanists generally have less need than say Europeanists. My focus in Irish history tends to push me closer to the Americanist camp simply because the sources that I need to conduct my work are in English. The trend toward easing these sorts of requirements is the result of recognizing this situation for what it is. If I was studying French or German history, it would be ludicrous to undertake either without fluency in each respective tongue.
The idea that there are more schools offering PhDs and granting degrees to students that otherwise wouldn't have them is insulting. Especially when you look at the limited number of openings at elite schools. Sure they can remain in their upper-echelon of the Ivory Tower, but to suggest that people from non-elite schools don't do good, important work is ridiculous. Because that is the impression given by commentators such as the one cited.
Intelligence is only one of many factors that determine which universities one applies and gets accepted to. Remember, applications are voluntary, so some really smart people might opt NOT to go to elite schools even if they could get in. Governing factors such as finances, location, program reputation, and, for undergraduates what one thinks they want to study, all color application choices. Personally, I wanted to teach secondary education when I as applying to undergraduate schools. In Michigan the two best programs for secondary ed were generally considered to be Michigan State and Oakland University. Those were the only schools I applied to. In hindsight, I probably should have applied to University of Michigan as well, but their program for what I wanted to study was not as good, so it made no sense at the time. I opted for Oakland University because it was smaller than MSU - I didn't want to be a face in the crowd and have TAs as instructors - and less expensive. Since I was geared toward secondary ed my history curriculum was slightly different than other history majors, and as a result I probably had fewer upper-level history courses, but the difference was probably only 1 or 2 classes overall and I rocked the upper-level courses I did take, generally getting really high grades from the toughest profs in the department.
When I made the decision to go to grad school, because of time constraints, I only applied to two schools - Loyola and Boston College. I got into Loyola and decided to go there. So my academic pedigree is Oakland University > Loyola University Chicago. Probably not the most impressive. But in reality, I have noticed that where you get your degree matters very little, no matter what people say. At conferences I have been amazed at the quality of work from people at a variety of institutions, including really bad work from people at elite schools, and really good work from people at Loyola type schools. Dr. Robert Bucholz, one of Loyola's faculty members who actually gives a crap about graduate students, has said that he'd put Loyola students in the same ring as elite schools any day. I always thought that was a bit of posturing on his end, until I started putting conferences together and seeing the kind of stuff being done. I would agree with him on that point. I know that I am always impressed with my forerunners at Loyola and how well versed they are in the discipline. As this post suggests, different tiered graduate programs serve different purposes. I think that is a better perspective on the issue raised here.
In the end, I recognize that the prospects of finding a secure/rewarding academic job is unlikely and that my opinion doesn't matter on the subject, because as Tim Lacy pointed out here the system for evaluating programs is inherently flawed. I'm not trying to say that Loyola is a top-tier school. Don't get me wrong. But it is a very good school, and there are a number of other factors (size of school/department, funding, necessity for part-time work, etc.) that contribute to Loyola's, and schools of it's ilk, being branded as "inferior" - a label that is then siphoned off to it's graduates in the academy. Are there some bad eggs at Loyola. Sure there are. But I'm sure people would be surprised at the similarities between our department and that of a top flight school, at least intellectually. In the end, isn't that what really matters? No matter where someone goes for their PhD they're going to bust their asses to finish the degree. At the same time, all the literature and commentary indicates that newly minted PhDs shouldn't expect their efforts to be acknowledged by a tenure-track job. Anyone who enters grad school with the mentality that that is the only acceptable situation for them are setting themselves up to fail. But I would hope that during the course of one's training as an historian (or any humanities field) that (s)he would be able to revise their thinking.
Basically I refuse to be labeled as an inferior historian simply because of where I went to school. In the words of W. Axl Rose - "Don't Damn Me!"
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