Originally Posted by
Solaris
So as example you're highly succesfull in an acadamic field. Still, there's choices to make in terms of specialization, research topics, methodological approaches. Do you go after a technically difficult and largely socially unknown topic? Do you go into teaching/leading projectgroups? Do you pick something that has monetary value within your field? Do you check externally for what would fit your skills or do you know/feel what's the next step? Have you ever been wrong? Would there be a point where you'd really go "ok i'm done learning in this field" or would you keep digging?
I think these questions, and the ones i raised in the OP are things that at least for me will always plague me in a way, or accompany me.
Let me tell you what I've noticed most highly successful academics do: they choose the most up-to-date topics, what's hot (scientifically), an area where they can still have a say. So what's socially/culturally relevant and scientifically not yet approached or at least not exhausted. It doesn't matter how technically difficult it is. Methodology is only up to them. When you're older and more experienced it's easier, I guess. When you start working on your thesis it can happen that you discover after about one year of research that you have to shift your topic a bit, because much has already been trodden. So you have to move like a snake into what is really a niche (literally speaking - a rift) for your further research to have value. Tbh I started off very enthusiastically with what I liked most ("tada! gonna write about her ... ooops, what. yeah, she's already super-famous and has written about 10 books and has a bunch of critics on her back. mmm I have to bring something completely new about her?!"). For instance, a colleague went from the start into intersex literature (this is super new) and she chose a writer who is still working on a third book. Basically she has to deal with much less literary criticism and theory and she must be able to set the tone for everything herself. There's not much written about that author, the person has just started --but the topic (area) is extremely new and promising. Perfect for someone who's into gender issues. Well that's what older academics usually do for their further specialization and books, I suppose she was very well advised on the matter.
Many people choose topics that fit the research interests of their supervisor/superiors. And they adapt their specialization to what they know is very new and would make a "hole" in the academic body ... aka a position that can be occupied. So it's not really only for money and position, because they keep it up-to-date and aligned with the interests of the most modern research centers etc. Let's just say that the Uni is not creating a position to fit the dude or chick, but a bit the other way round (oh, we need Ethnic Studies, many cool Unis have it already --who's into that?). So those who are after clear success have a very keen eye on the academic trends in other relevant countries as well (e.g. the US, the UK, Denmark...). What is fresh and new and not very spoken about?
As for teaching ... if you have to do with the academia for your PhD and you don't teach, you're half dead. Especially if you want to stay in research ...otherwise, of course, if you want to use a degree to top some other kind or work you're doing, it's totally fine.
I don't think I've heard of ppl engrossed in the academia who gave up or got bored. It's too continuous, too much work. I mean lol, I only know a dude who wrote his PhD and then said fuck off to it all when his supervisor adopted a different view at his disputation in order to bootlick a superior. He was basically saying in public that the guy he had supervised was not much worth. And the dude was too proud to take such bs and simply said he saw no point in going on and got out of the room. Exit furious Shakespearean phd candidate kicking his 4-5-year work in the air . Cool huh.
About me: I decide easily because more often than not I go into what I know I am or would be good at and into things I identify strongly with. But I sometimes have to double-check -- for instance, my supervisor kept telling me to adjust my thesis to the public a bit more (I think he's a special kind of EIE-Ni ...but I'm not sure). He urged me to become a bit less individualistic and more attentive to external opinions. In my life in general: yes, I decide easily. It's as if something in me tells me this or that is the right thing, the right way to go (gut feeling?). I haven't experienced much indecision. But as I said ... considering several things /hobbies/talents simultaneously must be cool. Oh here's something that has happened, dunno if I should call it doubt or common sense ...I canceled stuff after weeks of preparation when I made a last-day decision that it's not for me -- other projects I was thinking to apply for. Not what I'm doing now, stuff I considered to do further. It would have meant changing the field completely -- e-g. writing about hysteria in American culture (I could only use the US, race, and gender from what I've already done ...the rest was mostly psychoanalysis). Or I wanted to apply for a group project in an institute called "Law and Emotions". I could have dealt with the way emotions were used in constructions of race and gender in legal discourses in the US. The topic was fascinating, but I felt the field would have been too new .... no more literature and cultural studies, but law and the history of emotions (psychology-sociology). I gave up 1 day before the deadline .... after I filled my room and my tables with books for one month to prepare the new project. So yeah ... there are comfort zones for everyone, I guess.
Talent and Doubt
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. If you don't have classes, you have less chances of getting something cool later on - teaching experience counts a lot. But positions and courses are hard to get, because you basically have over 20-30 ppl into research in a department and only 1-3 full-time stable positions and some part-time classes. (in Humanities at least, probably in fields where money moves more easily, the situation is a bit better).
you could hear the atmosphere in the room drop like a rock.
