Ambling along

Chapter four is coming together a bit better now. I kind of had an epiphany the other day. I was struggling over how to structure this chapter because I've spent the previous three charting the establishment of the culture of commemoration surrounding WWI in Ireland and this chapter covers almost fifty years and looks at the fragmentation and decline of that culture. One of the problems was that a number of the lenses that I used for the first three chapters changed and no longer carried the same weight that they did in the interwar period. This means that I have to switch my focus to the new media and cultural forms that replace them. But before getting there I figured it would be prudent to bring the subjects from chapters 1-3 up to speed as quickly as possible. So right now I'm trying to compile a condensed chronology for chapters 1-3 in the period 1939-1986. Once I complete that I think it should be a bit easier to get into some of the newer cultural forms relating to the memory of WWI in Ireland. We'll see how it goes.

I've also realized that I'm running a bit thin on sources for this section so I'm going to need to remedy that situation at some point.

Finally, I got the new issue of Perspectives today (the monthly publication of the American Historical Association) and there was an interesting article about the commodification of history PhDs. Today when people ask me/assume that I'm going to teach with my degree I tell them that that is the ideal, but probably won't happen. The article does a good example of explaining why. One of the most salient problems is that universities operate on a business model that isn't really conducive toward retaining permanant full-time faculty. The serious over-supply of history PhDs is only part of the problem. So while a teaching job is still the ideal and I'll try my darnest to get one, I'll be realistic, not hold my breath, and actively pursue employment outside of the academy as well.