New Responsibility and Screw Networking

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Clarissa

June 29, 2014

I have an unexpected new responsibility which is to review scholarly articles for journals in my field. I never contacted these journals to express my willingness to serve or asked to be considered as a reviewer. They find me on their own. And these are some of the most highly ranked journals in my field.

I have to say, it’s kind of cool to imagine an editor sitting in Liverpool, thinking, “OK, who do I know who can review an article on Bildungrsoman / Calderon / Spanish Civil War? What about this Clarissa person who keeps publishing in this field?”

It seems like I might become a superstar in my field even ahead of the schedule I set for myself. And the best part is that I’m proving that you don’t have to network, make connections, inflict yourself upon people’s notice. If you are not into that sort of demeaning stuff, your work will speak for you.

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3 responses to “New Responsibility and Screw Networking”

J. Otto Pohl

June 30, 2014

While you may very well already or will become an academic superstar, being asked to peer review journal articles are not in themselves indicative of anything. When I was unemployed after receiving my PhD I was asked to peer review journal articles twice. The second time was really strange since the editor said he found me through my blog and was aware that I had never held an academic position, but asked me to review the piece anyways because he could find absolutely nobody else. The article was on the Chinese diaspora in the USSR during the Stalin era. The other peer reviewer rejected it and it was not published even though I thought it only needed minimal revisions. So even unemployed complete nobodies get asked to review journal articles. For a period of time, now thankfully over, I was asked by my dean to review about a dozen journal articles about one a month for the Journal of the Faculty of Social Sciences of U of G. All of these articles were on West West Africa which is not my academic specialty. The only reason I know anything about West Africa at all is because I have lived and worked there for over three years. I am not sure how peer reviewers are selected overall, but the fact that I have done it is clear evidence that not all those selected are academic superstars. Indeed not all of them are even academics.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 30, 2014
  
  You are such an obvious superstar that I’m flattered even to be compared to you. Or to have you comment on my blog. You are not an unemployed nobody. You are an intellectual who is being ostracized for speaking truth to power. I admire your intellectual and professional journey more than I can express.
  
  I also have to confess that I have been using you as an example of the complete corruption of the studies of history in North America in many of the conversations I’ve had since I got to read your blog. You produce extremely valuable scholarhsip and if your country has no use for it, that’s an absolute crying shame. I don’t say this often (or probably ever) but I’m in absolute awe of your resilience, courage, and intellectual integrity. What you do is indescribably valuable. You are my hero because I know I wouldn’t persist with my scholarship if I had to face the same hardhip and unfair, completely ideological rejection as you do. I’m not even sure you realize after this comment of yours how inspiring and heroic your story is. I tell my students about you and they are practically in tears!
  
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J. Otto Pohl

June 30, 2014

Spasibo Bolshoi. From 2004 to 2007 after receiving a PhD from SOAS (U. of London) I was unemployed and during that time I peer reviewed two journal articles. I am now employed at the University of Ghana, an event that took place in my fourth decade of life. Although right now I am in Bishkek visiting family and trying to cut through left over Soviet red tape. I won’t go into too many details here, but this site talks about it ,http://www.gofundme.com/9ta7g0

I only persist because I haven’t figured out how to do anything else. I almost gave up a couple of times. I am still not sure I will stick it out in Africa until I am 60. But, then again I haven’t come up with any realistic plans to get a job in the US.

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