[URBANTH-L]RE temp jobs, scholars

[Ronald Hector A. Villanueva]

   insightful comments and articles posted. thanks.

   life is too short to only play one role, an academic.  a PhD need not
necessarily lead to an academic position as some related.  education is an end
in itself if it makes one a more humane person (and votes for the right
person!).

   with change rapidly occurring everywhere, with info. and communication
technologies (ICT) rearranging how we live, communicate, and manage info, with
the mobility of capital dictating socio-economic relations; how can academics
or would be academics hope to enter and maintain an idyllic existence in
campus? the academe is a flight from reality. funding for state u. reflect the
political economy of the state and nation.  faculty and staff worry with the
annual budget.  the pie is shrinking and everyone sees it as a zero-sum game.
 it is.  why the surprise? 

   a libertarian discussion group commented that the VT massacre was inevitable
because universities have become so big and monolithic, yet people are 
so alone
in this crowd.

   there are so many cracks in the academe model that it's surprising that new
models have yet to grab the imagination of the student market and young
scholars.  there must be new models out there...enlarging the pie is the
solution, but it may have to be done outside of academe.

   actually, there is.  applying anthro offers many opportunities.  think
thanks. consulting.  fact-finding and evaluation teams...setting up on-line
resources. smaller, independent schools...in the Philippines, some of the
biggest newspapers have anthropologists as their more popular and sometimes
more influential editorial columnists...news models for addressing poverty,
health crises, failed states, private-public sector partnerships, environment,
etc.  are needed along with imaginative anthropologists.  young scholars will
have to wear many hats at one-time or simultanaeously.  that is life. that is
what individuation leads to...outside of america, this is what scholars do
anyways...

   there will always be people who want to learn and there are people with a
passion for teaching.  getting them together in a setting that is 
conducive and
affordable  is the challenge and the killer app.

   on a personal note. i am pessimistic about the academe (too many
disappointments), but look forward with excitement at the opportunities 
outside
of it.

--
Hecky Villanueva
PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology
U. of Arizona

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