khaosworks | I Know What I Did Next Semester

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Looks like I'm going to do the next half of my American History requirement, i.e. American History from 1865 to the present as well as a Seminar in 19th Century American History - likely to be about the South, Civil War and/or Reconstruction.

I was hoping to take a course in war history, since military history's my bag as well, but it turns out there was a typo in the Spring schedule - what I thought was a war history colloquium turns out to be a course on agrarian history.

War. Agrarian. Easy mistake. Not.

So after some discussion, I'm doing a directed reading course, i.e. a seminar of one. Dr Hoffer, who's a legal and early American historian, is directing me on a reading list about military justice, i.e. legal systems in the military - JAG stuff, to put it in a very crude sense. Looks like if I'm heading in the direction to do a PhD, it'll be in legal history after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sdorn.livejournal.com

... should be where you want to be headed. You don't have to go towards legal histoy, regardless of how faculty may assume it'll be easier for you. And, even if you do that project in the spring as described, there are plenty of ways to slice "legal systems in the military." It's not necessarily in terms of standard "legal history." Viviana Zelizer has written several wonderful books on the "value of money"—not from an economic standpoint but from historical sociology, talking about the changing value of children (Pricing the Priceless Child) and the symbolic meaning of money (such as money given as gifts—ever hear of money trees?) (The Social Meaning of Money). So do whatever the hell you want!

From:

khaosworks.livejournal.com

The thing is, I'm interested in so many things, that it's hard to find focus, and I'll have to figure out a research topic if I'm going to submit a PhD. proposal by the end of next semester. Obviously, if there's a professor who's actually in the field I'm doing stuff I can work under it'll be a lot easier. And I am intrigued by the idea of military justice systems. And as you know, legal history, in the sense that it examines the law and its effects on society at any given period, can illuminate all kinds of other things about that society - its norms, its priorities, its social structure, etc. What I'm hoping is that by going into military justice, I can go through it and find out how Asian-Americans were treated in the US military... which was actually one of the topics proposed in my original MA application.

Am I being too optimistic to hope that once I get my degree out of the way then I'll have time to branch out and research all the other stuff I'm interested in while teaching?

From:

tronchin.livejournal.com

"Am I being too optimistic to hope that once I get my degree out of the way then I'll have time to branch out and research all the other stuff I'm interested in while teaching?"

Now, as I understand it, you do degrees. So maybe why it's easy for you to think in terms of "getting the degree out of the way." But I tend to think that if you're going to spend that much time and effort on something (while you're poor and all alone in a library, no less). Start doing that you love immediately.

If you're not sure what that is, that's fine. But once you know, don't let the faculty push you too far off course.

I know my adviser would love it if I'd give up my whole French-speaking Switzerland thing for Austria (he's expertise), but I'm sticking with what I love. Lord help, I love the Swiss! ;-)

And as for what happens once you finish your degree, who knows where your interests will take you. The great thing about history is that once you kinda figure out the rules of the game, as it were, if you decide to break out in a new direction, it's just a matter of learning the existing historiography (and possibly a new language). But you know how to be a historian. That sticks with you.

From:

sdorn.livejournal.com

Please excuse me while I take a sip of something after hearing that some history grad students are asked to come up with a dissertation topic after one year. Yeeps. You're going to be barely out of Foucault's Diapers at that point.

And, while one should have time to research while teaching, it depends entirely on the job. The majority of academic positions in the U.S. are in teaching institutions. I'm teaching three courses this semester (with no TA's to help). In the last week, I've counted about 52 hours of work—probably would've been 55 or more if I hadn't gone to sleep early last night after donating blood in the morning. That's not the part that's the reality check. The reality check is that, with more than 50 hours of work in a week, none of it was either reading in the field or research/writing. At places like Central Connecticut State University, the regular load is 4-4, or four courses a semester. I respect my colleagues who teach that load, and teaching is wonderful work, incredibly rewarding at the most unexpected moments. But you generally don't write a book every five years when you have that job.

So do something that you love as a dissertation topic.

From:

yong-mi.livejournal.com

Am I being too optimistic to hope that once I get my degree out of the way then I'll have time to branch out and research all the other stuff I'm interested in while teaching?

No,you are not. The Ph.D.is your union card that gets you into teaching at the university level. Once you're in you should be researching what you are interested in.

My philosophy regarding research for a Ph.D. is that you should do what interests you and what gets you out the door ASAP. The Ph.D. research is not going to be the high point of your long research career, nor will it be the last chance you have to do research. So why prolong poor graduate student-hood?