Maria Grewe (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY)
Cynthia Porter (Ohio State University)
Contrary to restrictive, dare we say “traditional,” ways of thinking [in academia], there is no absolute definition of success after one graduates with an MA or PhD in the Humanities. Moreover, during the course of one’s graduate school career, unwritten rules and unspoken expectations inform implicit academic, social, and cultural messages that are transmitted to graduate students. While some of these messages are seemingly benign, others can be toxic and potentially derail a student’s career, and they can have a significant impact on mental and physical wellbeing. How do we make these hidden rules and expectations explicit, and how do we actively work against those that are harmful? This roundtable aims to create a space for structured discussion about topics that are often deemed illegitimate in academic discourse. With the intention of breaking molds and simultaneously creating space for those who dare to pursue their post-doctoral career with confidence, regardless of what path one chooses to take, this roundtable is positioned with pluralities in mind. As a continued conversation from the 2024 NeMLA annual conference, we hope to pull back the curtain even more, and present different perspectives on our metaphorical stage for those in discussing graduate studies across disciplines at NeMLA 2025.
The organizers of this roundtable are both positioned with the Humanities as our academic anchor, and we both have backgrounds in German and Cultural Studies. We would therefore like to invite a range of perspectives and disciplinary experience in this conversation, to best serve an interdisciplinary group of graduate students. This is where you (may) come in! We endeavor to create a space for community, bringing students and post-degree professionals together, as they share some common interests, like the pursuit of education, establishing a balance (regardless of prioritization) of one’s personal and professional pursuits, and earning a living wage. It is also likely that participants and audience members will represent a range of different issues, institutional short-comings, and bureaucratic headaches that leave one feeling bouts of hopelessness, loss, uncertainty, and confusion. Unfortunately, these latter experiences are often dismissed as just some of the many harsh truths, commonly compared to unavoidable so-called “life events” (e.g. struggles with childcare, income insecurity, food insecurity, loss of a loved one/support person, etc.), that take shape as one endeavors to commit a chapter of their lives to higher academic pursuits.
We invite self-/nominated writers and creators representing a range of positionalities and from different stages in their careers (grad students through seasoned professionals), in academia and academic-adjacent, to engage in a structured dialogue about their experiences of “hidden” expectations and values they were/are confronted with in graduate school. The second goal for the discussion is to circulate possible strategies to navigate, expose, and dismantle these potentially hazardous expectations. Finally, the tables will turn, inviting the roundtable attendees, emphasizing graduate students, with the opportunity to share their own experiences and ask questions that often remain unspoken (or perhaps even shunned) in academic discourse.
Topics include but are not limited to:
· Mental health and well-being
· Unethical hiring practices
· Labor justice advocacy
· BIPOC at Predominantly White Institutions/departments
· Starting a family
· Bias in student evaluations
· Advocating for non-traditional forms of publication
· When you are presumed incompetent
· LGBTQ+ at a conservative institution
· Disability bias
· Native speaker bias in foreign languages and literatures
· Networking and conference expectations
· Accessibility
· Finding and identifying allies and support networks
· Challenges for international students