A note from Australia on all of this, from the perspective of a now very long
career: until the influence of Robin Room began to be felt back in Australia,
historical approaches to drug and alcohol studies were not taken seriously in
Australia. Even then, funding agencies in Australia traditionally made sharp
distinctions between the humanities and the “sciences” in regard to funding, to
the detriment of the former. I can certainly vouch that until (and maybe even
after) the 1980s, studying temperance was regarded as a bit of a joke in
Australia. Perhaps not surprising, given the propensity of Australian historians
at the time to prop up bars rather than sit at typewriters or computers,
Best regards
Ian Tyrrell
Quoting KATHEL KERR <[log in to unmask]>:
> Thius thread is interesting. As usual, I agree with David Courtwright. My
> own work on Prohiibition was disparaged by funding agencies and one editorial
> board, but not by my campus colleagues. In return, a prestigous publisher
> took the work, it was reviewed in the Sunday New York Times (after I was
> refused a slot on the program of the Organization of American Historians),
> and because of my work I have appeared on NPR's Talk of the Nation, the
> History Channel, The Learning Channel, and other venues. (The irony was that
> my NPR appearance occured in the middle of the American Historical
> Association convention; I had a larger audience than anyone on the program of
> that august body.) The public is interested in what we do (and so are
> undergraduate students) even as our colleagues are sometimes too narrow to
> see beyond "the culture wars" of the 1960s and seek to perpetuate their
> agendas in the younger generation.
>
>
> Austin Kerr
> Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Courtwright, David" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009 12:08 am
> Subject: Alcohol / drug stigma and the job market
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> > Michael:
> >
> > I agree with Ernie. The history of illicit drugs and drug
> > addiction is as suspect than the history of alcohol and
> > alcoholism. Probably more so. Yet I can't say that my research
> > in the field has been a career handicap. There's a large
> > difference between research and teaching. Publishers and funding
> > sources are interested in the addiction area because it touches
> > a policy nerve. Academic departments aren't much interested, at
> > least not in the way they're interested in minority studies. But
> > that shouldn't matter if you can offer their bread-and-butter
> > courses. (I've spent most of my time teaching history of
> > medicine, legal history, and American history period courses.)
> > Perhaps it works differently in English departments, which tend
> > to be highly politicized, but historians and social scientists
> > seem less concerned with the research specialties of new hires
> > than their ability to plug conspicuous holes in the curriculum.
> > I say this as someone who has taken part in perhaps twenty
> > assistant professor searches over thirty years.
> >
> > David T. Courtwright
> > University of North Florida
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society on behalf of Ernest Kurtz
> > Sent: Tue 3/3/2009 4:36 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: literary drinking
> >
> >
> > Michael,
> >
> > I admire your courage, but in my professional career, I have
> > consistently found alcohol studies to be as stigmatized as
> > alcoholism itself. And the same is true of addiction
> > studies. But some truly great people have made and
> > continue to make real contributions: Robin Room
> > comes to mind, as does George Vaillant, but quite a few others
> > on this list also qualify. My main suggestion is to
> > maintain your ambiguity -- some people will listen to you or
> > read you just to figure out whether or not you are one of
> > "them." And once you've got them listening, if you are a
> > good teacher, you can teach. The main thing in job-hunting, I
> > believe, is convincing people that you a truly good teacher.
> >
> > ernie kurtz
> > ----
> > Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D. (Harvard 1978)
> > Adjunct Assistant Research Scientist (than which rank there is
> > no lower)
> > The University of Michigan School of Medicine
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mar 3, 2009, at 10:36 AM, Michael Carolan wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > As a new member of the forum (and, believe it or not, a former
> > student of Professor Wedge's), I appreciate all the
> > recommendations of creative work in here. I wanted to share what
> > a veteran professor had to say about the field in a professional
> > recommendation he wrote for me recently after I developed
> > addiction studies courses at UMass:
> >
> > "Addiction is an area of study not unlike African American
> > studies or Native American studies, and possibly all the more
> > relevant not least because it not yet an established area of study."
> >
> > As I enter the severely shrunken academic job market, I am left
> > wondering why all I see are openings for minority, third world,
> > gay and lesbian studies but none for alcohol, mental illness,
> > and/or addiction? Am I missing something?
> >
> > With deep respect,
> > Michael Carolan
> > University of Massachusetts-Amherst
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Fahey
> > Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 1:19 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: literary drinking
> >
> >
> > [Personal papers of George Wedge]
> >
> >
> > Database:
> > University of Kansas Libraries
> > Main Author:
> > Wedge, George F. <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-
> >
>
bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=Author&SEQ=20090228121723&PID=nZT-3bbxeXgav16B8dUssxr0H2ka&SA=Wedge,+George++F.>
>
> > Title:
> > [Personal papers of George Wedge]
> > Linked Resources:
> > Finding aid
> > <http://ead.diglib.ku.edu/xml/ksrl.ua.wedgegeorge.html>
> > Publisher:
> > 1958-1993.
> > Format:
> > Archival/Manuscript Material
> > Description:
> > 12 linear ft.
> >
> >
> > Indexes:
> > Finding aid available on the Internet.
> > General Notes:
> > Wedge taught English at the University of Kansas from 1958-1993.
> > This collection consists of writings, manuscripts, research, and
> > correspondence.
> > Margaret Wedge; gift; 2003.
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> > Location <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/location.htm> :
> > Spencer Library (University Archives)
> > Call Number <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/callnum.htm> :
> > PP 408 <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-
> >
>
bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=CallNumber&SEQ=20090228121723&PID=nZT-3bbxeXgav16B8dUssxr0H2ka&SA=PP+408>
>
> > Status <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/status.htm> :
> > Item details not available
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Crowley, John
> > <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > There is, of course, no shortage of examples of alcoholic
> > characters and
> > alcoholic behavior in twentieth-century American
> > literature. Just look
> > into the recent wave of memoirs. One early success, Mary
> > Karr's THE
> > LIAR'S CLUB, is everywhere redolent of her father's whiskey
> > breath. The
> > one I most admire and the one I've taught most often is
> > DRINKING: A LOVE
> > STORY by the late Caroline Knapp (who died much too young, but
> > not from
> > drinking after all).
> >
> > This topic reminds me of George Wedge (U of Kansas), one of the true
> > founders of Alcohol and Addiction Studies within the
> > "discipline" of
> > English. For many years he compiled a bibliography of
> > drinking/drunken writers and their stories. (I hope it's
> > gone into the Kansas library.)
> > Unfortunately, George never published very much of what he
> > knew; but all
> > of us owe him an intellectual debt.
> >
> > Toward the end of his life, George was thinking about the idea
> > that AA
> > had possibly distorted the early scholarship in the field (including,
> > for instance, mine!): by subtly introducing an unduly righteous tone
> > toward unregenerate alcoholic authors as well as the possibly rigid
> > notion that sobriety goes with superior literary production, in
> > terms of
> > quantity and quality too. Perhaps a dubious idea; for
> > some writers
> > (e.g. Styron) report the virtual necessity of alcohol in their
> > literary inspiration. Simply denial? Just an
> > excuse? Maybe not? That's the
> > direction George would have taken. Any fellow
> > travelers? (I once tried
> > out this approach in a short piece on James Whitcomb Riley, all
> > of whose
> > best poetry was written under the influence and none of whose sober
> > poetry has ever been considered worth a damn.)
> >
> > John W. Crowley, U of Alabama
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > David M. Fahey
> > Professor of History
> > Miami University
> > Oxford, Ohio 45056
> > USA
>
> K Austin Kerr
> Professor Emeritus of History
> Ohio State University
>
>
>
Ian Tyrrell
Scientia Professor of History
UNSW,
Sydney
AUSTRALIA, 2052
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