since accepting a contingent 4/4 teaching position for next year, i& #39;ve been getting a LOT of condolences. "you& #39;ll make it thru." the job is at a social-justice oriented anthro dept in the South, where I grew up. plz stop eulogizing my career 1/5 #AcademicChatter #anthrotwitter

these responses, well-meant and empathetic, along with the brilliance of my peers who& #39;ve gotten research-only postdocs, has me second guessing the move - am I setting myself up for a lifetime of teaching? will I be able to shift to a research position in the future? 2/5

but the reality is, in @TMitsuhara& #39;s words, this position is god& #39;s work, it& #39;s giving back to the region that made me. I get to teach and engage with scholars in and of the South. this is THE work I always hoped I might do 3/5

i& #39;m very worried about teaching a 4/4 - I haven& #39;t really processed the reality of it yet. i know i won& #39;t have time to publish. in-person conferences will be off the table for sure. i won& #39;t be adding non-teaching lines to my CV for a couple years. 4/5

but the toxicity of academia has me thinking i& #39;m on my death bed, not an emerging scholar. it has become a radical act to embrace this position, to celebrate it as a GOOD option, esp. in this year& #39;s market, rather than a burden or a stop-gap. 5/5