After an intense academic year with a lot of gross, negative stuff about academia, I’ve been returning to the idea of academic generosity we discussed in a @humanitiesremix episode last fall. I’m still working on fully articulating what it is, but it’s something I think we need.
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For me at least, academic generosity is about building and collaborating, thinking through new ways of moving forward. It does mean giving our time and energy, which we already give too much of, but what if we did it in the service of actually making things better for others?
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Of course, the obvious challenge/trap here is that those who often do such work are already doing it (and way too much of it). The burden too regularly falls on the shoulders of those who are marginalized, contingent, and/or already overworked and overextended.
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This is why think any sort of approach to academic generosity has to be collaborative, and has to come from many/all of us. To place the burden on the shoulders of a few is not fair, ethical, or sustainable. But I think without it, we’re in trouble.
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This idea of academic generosity is tied to something I told myself when working on my PhD: I will do whatever I can to help make things better for those who come after me.
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Some specific things I’ve tried to do are reading/responding to others’ works in progress or job materials, creating speaking opportunities at Washburn for grad students, postdocs, and ECRs, and working on
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These are only a few examples, and nothing is perfect, but it’s been a start for me. I am curious what others have done. In what ways are you trying to be academically generous? What tips or insight do you have?
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One of the biggest challenges for me is to try to respond positively and generously instead of negatively, to focus on building and improving instead of critiquing to tear something down. Social media makes it easy to respond in snide/reactionary ways, and that isn’t always good.
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I think this is in many ways a holdover from our training in academia to find the bad or negative instead of/failing to focus on the positive or potential of an idea or work. I wouldn’t say to not negatively critique, but to think about how to do so strategically or carefully.
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Some things, especially what I see as the opposite of academic generosity (bad faith critiques, problematic/offensive takes, etc.) need to be addressed. But there’s also an expectation that some work should do it all/be all things to all people, and that’s not a great approach.
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It also means often decentering ourselves in the process of helping and valuing others. We should value the collaborative as much as the individual contribution. Together, we can build, improve, and grow in ways we cannot do alone.
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I truly believe the way forward to making academia better is together, through collaborating, valuing, and supporting others as we do ourselves. It’s a slow, long, tough road, but if we all work on being more academically generous, it could be a better one for those who follow.
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