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Should academia require endurance or empathy?

Emma Parfitt — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:36:00 +0000

After meeting a friend and discussing the highs and lows of PhD life and academia recently, I then went to see the Enduring Eye exhibition at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. The exhibition is a stunning display of photographs of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ‘Endurance Expedition’ of 1914-1917.

Being in academia right now kind of feels like being trapped in an iced-in ship, that is, in a hostile environment not suited to human beings. By no means do I intend to underplay the harsh experiences faced by the crew of the Endurance. But neither should we underestimate the mental and physical levy that is currently the “norm” of academia.

Here is the optimistic part of my post, working conditions are what we decide to make them. As we move into post-Brexit times it has never been more important to create good working conditions… at the forefront of this emphasis should be our universities, which are supposed to be focused on education and research, In other words, on people and their (our) striving towards better things…

The PhD process, post-doctorate and academic life is fraught with many dangers. I, amongst others, have not been immune to this. I will not share friend’s stories, but I will share a bit of mine, in that I suffered both mentally and physically in order to write journal articles, a thesis, do part-time work, look after undergraduates, write grant proposals, and get fellowships and funding. When the stress affected my health and I realised the harsh consequences of this, I made a conscious decision to be the change I wanted to see. I am not perfect, can anyone say that? I was inspired by people I observed in my department. The staff that took the extra time not just to give you feedback in a constructive way but also checked on how you were doing. The fellow academics that shared not just their stories of success—the performing social media persona I have come to loathe—also their stories of difficulty and perserverance.

The question we need to ask is what should our real perserverance be towards?

The above quote, and the one following, could be used to describe the life of a time-stressed academic working away at their desk…

Here comes the core of my article, what kind of place do we want to live and work in? If I suggest small changes like resisting the journal writing, the high performing wire of the ‘career path’, what are your first thoughts and feelings? Perhaps ones of horror… how on earth can I complete with Charlie, Amir and Samantha, without publishing one book and several hundred academic papers?

Honestly, you might not be able to. Academic skills can however be used out of the workplace, and surely that is better for mental and physical health than an academic burn out? I am probably not being controversial enough… It’s going to be hard for those that stick around in academia. Those that somehow survive year by year postdoctorate contracts are lucky. I have decided not to follow this route, because shock horror I am not an upper class individual and I need to cover my rent, food and heating. That academia is for the rich and the prividledged is nothing new. So here I (we?) are striking out on an alternative path.

Somehow I doubt we will end up frozen to the rocky tundra. The happy news is that Shackleton’s crew made it. Remarkably every one survived. My thoughts lately have been circling around that, survival alone is not enough, there is a certain quality of life I want and a lot of that does not revolve around money but less stress. The time to potter around in my garden without the stress of rewriting an academic article that might never be published all because I am told my work is not judged on its benefit to others but the number of journal articles that are accepted. Grrr!

As a sociologist it was natural that I interpret the Enduring Eye exhibition through my own reflexivity. I have not said anything new, just added one more voice to a growing number of articles recently. That academia pushes out the underprividledged, that working conditions are unsustainable in the long term, and that we demand better. Thoughts about a better world can be inspired by art, taken on a trip that no one thought possible until someone crossed the Antarctic. The reality is that we all play a part to make it possible. So what will your part be?

Rather than list solutions, because different individuals and different workplaces have different needs, I would like to ask you to take some time to reflect and share in the comments what you can do for yourself, to take care of yourself at work, and what you can do for others. Two little things… and hopefully this might help others who are stuck.

Mine are:-

1. For others I will try to express compassion, even when difficult.

2. For myself I will complete pieces of work in my own time, to allow time for creativity and time to live in the moment.

I wish you luck on your journey.

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PhD Progress update

Emma Parfitt — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:43:00 +0000

My PhD had changed alot since the very beginning when I had what seems like a really vague idea now about storytelling and mental health. I then became interested in how stories teach people about their culture, including emotional language and understanding. I have clarified my thesis statement to: The civilisation of emotion: does traditional storytelling or do stories have an effect on how young people identify and understand the language of emotion?

So in my thesis I am going to explore Arlie Hochschild’s concept of how society uses feeling in relation to young people and traditional storytelling. I intend to use Hochschild’s ideas to form a link between Jack Zipes’ application of Elias and civilitie and Bruno Bettelheim’s discussions on the possible meaning and understanding of fairy stories. While Zipes debates the behavioural influences of fairy tale literature on civilization Bettelheim’s focus was on children’s psychological maturity (which is important to well-being when it comes to coping with depression and anxiety). Emotions in this way are co-dependant knowledge, we learn the language of emotion how to recognise, label, and place meaning on feelings through our interactions with others. Fitting in with ideas of social constructionism the language, meaning and expression of emotion is socially constructed and under constant revision.

So what do I mean by ‘does traditional storytelling or do stories have an effect’? I believe that narrative can help young people to negotiate transitions from late childhood to early adulthood. My research methods (comprising of interviews, storytelling, and group discussion) act in an intervention capacity, in that the students’ interpretation and experience of the storytelling performance allows their ideas to be perceived and validated, in other words tested against the responses of others. Social influences such as media, the internet, and other people, have narrative elements which combined on many levels potentially inform our emotional language and understanding. The research may be used in part to begin to separate out the processes of meaning-making which may validate why storytelling may have psychological benefits because it is exploring the student’s words and interactions over a period of time. And I hope this may take us a step closer to understanding what a marvellous thing our culture is, and how we can encourage multiple layers of tolerance and understanding between different genders, class and culture, and empower young people to make a difference in society with the right support. The support they tell us they need rather than what, in good faith, we try to impose.

On other news, going part time has helped the money situation I’m working hard to complete my PhD in four years on schedule. If anyone hears of any grants or sponsorship that my PhD might qualify for please let me know. I’ve written to my local MP, and to the Minister of Education, to appeal for more consideration of PhD funding, such as for example changing the current Career Development Loan system. It is designed to cover two years of study and provides a maximum of £10,000 which then has to be paid back in roughly £200 instalments a month. It was never designed to provide for PhD students but some of us have no other choice. I used mine to support myself and cover the bulk of my first two years fees. This past year I have applied for funding and worked part time to save up money to pay off the loan and pay for subsequent year’s fees. However the unexpected move to Warwick University with my supervisor in September has eaten up my savings for next year’s fees because I was unable to find work from Sept – January. But as in the past if I work hard I know that I will create an opportunity to find the money I need to get by. Feeling forcibly optimistic. A big thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far.

Happy Easter J

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Harry Ricketts Poetry Reading

Emma Parfitt — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Harry Ricketts came to share his poetry on Warwick campus today. I am nine months into the PhD and enjoying taking the opportunity to hear creatives speak. It’s not all just sociology and science lectures! Though, I love popping into different departments for guest speakers.

The poet

Harry Ricketts is best known for his biography Strange Meetings on WW1 soldiers who wrote poetry. Fascinated by their creations as they recovered from the traumatic events they had witnessed.

Poet and biography Harry Ricketts was at Warwick University on Tuesday 27th December to talk about his new book Strange Meetings. As he talked about the process of writing the book I was struck by how much fiction and nonfiction intertwine in their techniques and challenges. Writing involves thinking about perspective. And there are many angles this could take. Framing a book with real meetings between a select number of war poets is an intriguing idea and the book reads very well.

Harry Ricketts’ talk

The highpoint for me was hearing the poem Quarantine Island. A strange choice perhaps, but the following words reminded me of this strange process called a PhD.

‘There will be days of sudden calm,
nights when stars burn into your head.
World turns strange and yet the same.’

It was fascinating to have a chat with him afterwards about the process of writing as I hope to use poetry in some form in my creative piece. Folktales often have rhymes and lines of poetry within them, and I’d like to experiment with this in modern fairy tales.

Emma’s creative writing

Here’s a little sample of some of my writing in A Friendship of Thistles.

‘Hector!’ Heather flings her sleeves wide open – the Scottish-wide ban on household visits be damned – a piece of her heart has returned to her. Small flecks of rain speckle Hector’s glasses and raincoat, though not enough to dampen her woollen dress. ‘Where’s Fran?’

Hector’s shoulders stiffen. ‘Fran threw me out.’

Buy it here!

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