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The Academic Self: An Owner's Manual
Donald E. Hall offers a self-help book designed for academics, from graduate students to tenured faculty. He helps readers engage in an active process of career management, goal setting, prioritization, and reflection on the norms that constitute what he calls “academic selfhood.” Drawing broadly on the insights of Anthony Giddens’ notions of reflexivity and self-identity, Hall encourages new and seasoned scholars to “own up to” the behaviors, attitudes, and complicities that compromise their professional identities. This book couples all its exhortations with clear, concrete, and practical strategies for responding productively to the many uncertainties of academic life. Separate chapters of the book examine the textuality of the academic self, profession, academic processes and collegiality. Among the topics candidly discussed are careerism, burnout, procrastination, and insecurity. Throughout the book readers will find anecdotes, real-life examples, and concrete tips for constructing and maintaining a successful career defined on their own terms. The Academic Self: An Owner’s Manual opens up a new and frank discussion on academic life and academics’ basic responsibility for their own actions and attitudes.
- GenresNonfiction
136 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
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56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 31, 2019
Seriously, does anyone who gets a PhD in the humanities (and most of the social sciences) today and manages to get a TT position at a "teaching school" really feel like a failure? Has the author evaluated what it costs to buy private health insurance while an adjunct (whose "extreme situations" are considered outside the purview of The Academic Self)? And does it take a PhD (in the humanities! the study of being human, for gosh sakes!) to realize that a) success in life cannot be "objectively evaluated" and 2) balancing your time is important to avoid burn-out?
On another note, I wish it were 2002.
On another note, I wish it were 2002.
August 4, 2020
2.5
I honestly just hate self-help books and this reads like an overly verbose self-help books for those in academia circa early 2000s. Some good advice, sure, but most of it is pretty obvious and a lot of it is outdated. Hall also barely acknowledges that gender, sexuality, cultural background, class, etc. deeply affect not only how we learn and work but also how we are positioned within academic spaces. He operates under the assumption that junior faculty haven't had other careers before moving into academia. I suppose I wanted more focus on the array of working habits and learning styles professors possess and the various components of identity that determine these. Meh.
Glad that you have the time to read widely in your field and write research every single day, sir, but that is not my reality, and that is fine.
I honestly just hate self-help books and this reads like an overly verbose self-help books for those in academia circa early 2000s. Some good advice, sure, but most of it is pretty obvious and a lot of it is outdated. Hall also barely acknowledges that gender, sexuality, cultural background, class, etc. deeply affect not only how we learn and work but also how we are positioned within academic spaces. He operates under the assumption that junior faculty haven't had other careers before moving into academia. I suppose I wanted more focus on the array of working habits and learning styles professors possess and the various components of identity that determine these. Meh.
Glad that you have the time to read widely in your field and write research every single day, sir, but that is not my reality, and that is fine.
July 9, 2019
The first chapter ("Self") was a bit dense, but the following chapters were well worth the read. Hall is able to put into words the vague, amorphous culture of academia so well and offers well-measured, practical advice.
I especially appreciate his invitation to reflect on how we as individual scholars define career "success" and contribute to collegial cultures. This is a book I plan to return to as a touchstone throughout my career and is one I would share with future colleagues. Most useful for incoming/junior faculty, but also relevant for seasoned faculty and department chairs.
I especially appreciate his invitation to reflect on how we as individual scholars define career "success" and contribute to collegial cultures. This is a book I plan to return to as a touchstone throughout my career and is one I would share with future colleagues. Most useful for incoming/junior faculty, but also relevant for seasoned faculty and department chairs.
September 9, 2024
Very pompous and outdated. He was saying the same things over and over again just in different ways. Like yes, there were good points, but a lot of this advice is outdated. I thought as an author who likes to focus a lot on queer studies he would delve into that but it was pretty much a rant. I skimmed a lot of it and really didn't miss out on anything.
January 7, 2012
This one is a little hard for me to rate. I think that happens to me when I read non-fiction.
Slight background: my professor mentioned this book several years ago as something she was interested in reading. The book came up as a topic of conversation and possible relevance during my first thesis defense (with my thesis including the topic of teachers as whole people who also have spiritual/faith-based identities). So the professor/my advisor lent me her copy.
While Hall says that this book is useful for all people who are interested in higher education, by they graduate students or full tenure professors, I would make a slight refinement there. This has certainly been useful for me, as I am a current graduate student and lecturer at our campus. While a lot of the information and recommendations apply specifically to tenure-track faculty, it certainly gives graduate students a heads-up in the event that they are interested in working in higher education. I also totally recommend that tenure-track faculty read/revisit this book every so often. It would be immensely helpful.
In the postscript to the book, Hall summarizes the book as something that emphasizes "a supple awareness of both the text of ourselves and the context(s) in which we work and live, a continuing exploration of our own agency and a willingness to accept what we cannot change, a sense of self-reliance alongside contributions to and a recognition of our continuing reliance upon others" (p. 89). If nothing else, Hall emphasizes our role in our departments and communities. We may only seem like small fish in a big department pool, but what are we doing to make that department better and to maintain good relationships with our colleagues? There's a lot of discussion and room for reflection regarding attitudes and behaviors that can lead to positive change.
One other part that I love that will work for my thesis: "Our writing, our teaching, and our professional community building provide many and always-changing opportunities for creating a network of meaning: by building bridges between our theories and practices; by integrating our broadest political/social goals and our day-to-day institutional activities; and by linking our intellectual principles with our concrete actions toward colleagues, students, and administrators. Indeed, this is a quickened, multiplied consciousness that encompasses both my professional and personal lives. It is, in short, my passion" (p. 91).
Slight background: my professor mentioned this book several years ago as something she was interested in reading. The book came up as a topic of conversation and possible relevance during my first thesis defense (with my thesis including the topic of teachers as whole people who also have spiritual/faith-based identities). So the professor/my advisor lent me her copy.
While Hall says that this book is useful for all people who are interested in higher education, by they graduate students or full tenure professors, I would make a slight refinement there. This has certainly been useful for me, as I am a current graduate student and lecturer at our campus. While a lot of the information and recommendations apply specifically to tenure-track faculty, it certainly gives graduate students a heads-up in the event that they are interested in working in higher education. I also totally recommend that tenure-track faculty read/revisit this book every so often. It would be immensely helpful.
In the postscript to the book, Hall summarizes the book as something that emphasizes "a supple awareness of both the text of ourselves and the context(s) in which we work and live, a continuing exploration of our own agency and a willingness to accept what we cannot change, a sense of self-reliance alongside contributions to and a recognition of our continuing reliance upon others" (p. 89). If nothing else, Hall emphasizes our role in our departments and communities. We may only seem like small fish in a big department pool, but what are we doing to make that department better and to maintain good relationships with our colleagues? There's a lot of discussion and room for reflection regarding attitudes and behaviors that can lead to positive change.
One other part that I love that will work for my thesis: "Our writing, our teaching, and our professional community building provide many and always-changing opportunities for creating a network of meaning: by building bridges between our theories and practices; by integrating our broadest political/social goals and our day-to-day institutional activities; and by linking our intellectual principles with our concrete actions toward colleagues, students, and administrators. Indeed, this is a quickened, multiplied consciousness that encompasses both my professional and personal lives. It is, in short, my passion" (p. 91).
July 20, 2015
This book kind of blows my mind. It's the ideal book for a graduate course in being an academic. Every intro to grad class should require it. I read the first chapter in a library book, but then immediately ordered it off Amazon.
The general gist--coming from a literary studies background--is that we should be as close readers of ourselves and our institutions as we are of our literary texts. The other key perspective is one of "collective self-help"--as Donald E Hall himself says "Collective success is always based on personal behaviors and decisions and on effective planning" (xx). Not a bad thesis to go on.
In rearranging ourselves, Hall recommends that we cease to see ourselves as fixed identities with fixed careers with careers that are "always 'in the making'" (10), not dependent on one milestone or one job. In a Jerry Maguire-esque move, Hall recommends that we "articulate, emphasize, and remember that our lives and careers can be enhanced by--and often even depend upon--our flexibility and equanimity when confronted with difficulties" (16).
Beyond improving ourselves, Hall recommends that we "acknowledge our own responsibility for constructing a career that satisfies us" (23). Further, he recommends that we stop seeing people who work in teaching or administrative positions as failed academics, and heirarching all of our affiliations. All with nary a reference to Bourdieu (plenty to Foucault!).
For teaching this book, you can require your students to produce a professional statement--rather like a personal statement--and also an institutional statement (like a less cheesy mission statement). There's an example.
The general gist--coming from a literary studies background--is that we should be as close readers of ourselves and our institutions as we are of our literary texts. The other key perspective is one of "collective self-help"--as Donald E Hall himself says "Collective success is always based on personal behaviors and decisions and on effective planning" (xx). Not a bad thesis to go on.
In rearranging ourselves, Hall recommends that we cease to see ourselves as fixed identities with fixed careers with careers that are "always 'in the making'" (10), not dependent on one milestone or one job. In a Jerry Maguire-esque move, Hall recommends that we "articulate, emphasize, and remember that our lives and careers can be enhanced by--and often even depend upon--our flexibility and equanimity when confronted with difficulties" (16).
Beyond improving ourselves, Hall recommends that we "acknowledge our own responsibility for constructing a career that satisfies us" (23). Further, he recommends that we stop seeing people who work in teaching or administrative positions as failed academics, and heirarching all of our affiliations. All with nary a reference to Bourdieu (plenty to Foucault!).
For teaching this book, you can require your students to produce a professional statement--rather like a personal statement--and also an institutional statement (like a less cheesy mission statement). There's an example.
September 6, 2007
This is an excellent and brief investigation of the psychology of the academic self. It is a self-help book designed for those who set the bar very high and try to be all things to all people. Most helpful is the first chapter on "self" wherein the author calls academics to examine their own insecurities.
October 15, 2015
Been sitting on my shelf since I left teaching at the university level. Started to pick it up again today in a rush to pick up a book to pass time at a coffee shop. Ended up finishing the book. Dr. Hall's book is filled with amazing insights regarding the culture in the academia. It's filled with analysis as well as practical genius tidbits like time management and goal setting.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews