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Since I broke the seal on this, I& #39;m going to tell a little story about the catch-22 of being a precarious academic. I hope FT people, and especially people in charge of post-docs, will hear me. https://twitter.com/Lady_Historian/status/1321145845664960519">https://twitter.com/Lady_Hist...
I& #39;m 43 years old and have a terminal degree from one of the top schools in my field. I am only able to survive because my parents have a spare room that they let me live in and because I get public health care. Without those things, I& #39;m not sure what would happen to me.
To make myself a viable candidate for a FT/TT academic job, I need to do research. To do research, I need money. That means applying for research funds and post-docs. I apply for them. I got a few small grants this year.
But I can only apply for small grants or long-term post-docs. Why? Because a 6-month position would push my annual income above the threshold to qualify for Medicaid, but would leave me unable to afford private insurance after the award term is over.
Additionally, a 6-month (or 9-month) term would mean giving up my adjunct gigs and they would not be waiting for me after the term is over.
Taking a 6-month fellowship would mean losing my employment and my health insurance. Turning a 2-year job into a 6-month fellowship shuts out people like me. Those gigs are now only viable options to people who already have the privilege of either wealth or FT employment.
I know most institutions don& #39;t care about us and only want to invest in people who have already been "proved" "worthy." But at some point we need to either stop shuffling the same 5 people around to all the jobs and opportunities or just admit that the field has no future.
