I never tried to sell myself as an alcohol/temperance historian but instead as a social historian or more precisely as a historian of social policies. Nobody ever seem to be concerned about the match or lack of it between my research and my teaching. Nobody complained even when a good deal of my research shifted geographically from British to American and other histories. Only once did I try to teach a course on alcohol and temperance history (as a senior seminar). It was a disappointment. This current term I required students in an honors section of modern world history to read David Courtwright's book on drugs. When I also asked students to do group presentations about a commodity, most of the students chose a drug topic (in Courtwright's definition of drugs). By the way, the students like the book. On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 12:21 PM, Cheryl Warsh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Michael: > > As a fellow historian I agree with David. There is a great deal of student > interest in history, media studies, etc. on courses in popular culture, and > alcohol is certainly part of it. A common worry for recent grads on the job > market is that their topic is not 'relevant' or 'saleable' and trying to > anticipate course interest is like trying to anticipate the stock market. If > you're passionate about a subject, it will show in your teaching and > writing. Of course you have to do the 'service' courses, in my case - the > Canadian survey - but there are bonuses to that as well. The broader your > teaching base, the broader the connections you can make in your own > research. Furthermore, you get to enrich the standard political histories > with your insights about everyday lives and habits. > > Cheryl Krasnick Warsh, PhD > Professor of History & Editor-in-Chief > Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la > médecine > Vancouver Island University > 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 5S5 > Phone: 250-753-3245 x. 2113 (office) > x. 2016 (journal) > Fax: 250-740-6459 > E-mail: [log in to unmask] > note: new email address > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Courtwright, David [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 10:47 AM > Subject: Alcohol / drug stigma and the job market > > 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 > -- David M. Fahey Professor of History Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA