Something Ive learnt in the past 3 years: The most challenging thing about academia is forcing yourself to ask challenging questions to yourself, to the material you’re engaging with, and to those around you. Make sure you engage, even when its difficult, and ask whether/how/to what extent/in what context the theory can be put to practice. Weve been implicitly taught to just sit and absorb the information thrown at us without being critical of it because the person teaching it must know his or her stuff otherwise they wouldnt be up there, or the theory feels like its set in stone. It is never set in stone. Knowledge doesnt exist in a vacuum. It springs from contextual frameworks, from certain paradigms, and from structures that are already in place. Dig and probe for alternative paradigms. You may very well be alienated or you may just open yourself up to an endless list of possibilities and connections, but you need to check what’s more important to you. Stop being comfortable with the material and ask, always ask, and contest, but don’t contest just for the sake of defiance or for the sake of difference, or because you want to “not be like the others.” That won’t get you anywhere.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 08:13:03 +0000
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