Abstract
Sensitive to the differences between centers and peripheries of knowledge production, this article explores how scholars in peripheral fields use knowledge from central fields to structure their academic careers. The article presents the findings of a case study of career choices of political scientists in Argentina. In order to understand the interplay between foreign knowledge and local strategies of enacting networks, this article focuses on the beginning of academic careers. At this early stage, political scientists in Argentina usually have to make a decision whether to stay in the country or go abroad for postgraduate education. Relying on positioning theory and recent developments in Science and Technology Studies, we identified two alternative positioning strategies. Those who stay in Argentina tend to hoard as many scholarly positions as possible, enacting local networks oriented towards teaching. Scholars who go abroad enact networks with international dimensions, in the process enrolling persons and objects, though not always successfully. Scholars with international experience tend to be research oriented, and they mention the working conditions abroad as particularly attractive. We show the extent to which these findings challenge some views of centers and periphery and highlight the active role of scholars in peripheral scientific fields.
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Notes
For the relationship between positioning theory and science, see Osbeck and Nersessian (2010).
Taxicab professorship is a specific form of academic labour in which academics hold as many posts as possible, at different universities, in order to make a living from academia. These posts are usually ad honorem or poorly paid and are focused on teaching.
Data showed that there are three groups of scholars according to the place they occupy in the field, the time spent in the academic realm, and the type of scholarly job (part or full time). They are what we shall call “newcomers,” those who have been incorporated recently into the university system and/or have held a university post for no more than 10 years. They usually have ad honorem or poorly paid academic positions and depend on family support and/or on non-academic jobs, which means that they are part-time scholars. What we shall call “consolidated scholars” are those who have been able to make a living exclusively from academic jobs and to reach higher positions within one or more chairs—at one or more institutions—and may have held administrative positions (such as head of department or dean). Within this group, a subset of scholars is made up of what we will call “consecrated scholars,” the most relevant, prestigious, and recognized academics who occupy the dominant positions of the field. They have frequently led research teams, have held administrative positions, and/or developed their career mostly in one institution, though keeping in contact with a variety of local and foreign colleagues.
Local postgraduate programs rarely have funding support for their students, and while a few studentships may be available, they are subject to the rules of the network that offers them. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) has emerged as the main provider of financial support for postgraduate students in Argentina in recent years, but mainly at the national level (Albornoz 2007).
Those newcomers who are, in practice, in charge of a class often use the bibliography they discussed on undergraduate courses, so they also translate foreign ideas according to the selection made by the professors holding chairs on undergraduate programs.
A scholarly work is a subordinating object when it is structured as a network of material objects (e.g., grants and research centers) and people (e.g., intellectuals thrown out by dictatorships) that produces meaningful contributions (e.g., the value as a theory that transcends traditional theoretical dichotomies) with the capacity of setting the research and teaching agendas of the fields in which it is incorporated. Usually, subordinating objects travel from metropolitan to peripheral fields (Rodriguez Medina 2010).
Since 2007, not one single scholarship for an Argentinean to study abroad was awarded. According to CONICET, the number of scholarships for nationals to undertake PhD studies in areas where there are not consolidated programs in Argentina in recent years has been 68 (2000), 75 (2001), 77 (2002), 73 (2003), 64 (2004), 57 (2005), 41 (2006), 0 (2007), and 0 (2008). [Available at http://www.conicet.gov.ar/CIFRAS/indicadores/2006/indicadores_de_insumo2006/recursos_humanos/bec_tipo_beca.php, accessed 17 June 2009]. CONICET's website does not provide up-to-date indicators of scholarships awarded beyond 2009 (http://www.mincyt.gov.ar/publicaciones/index.php?id_tema=23, accessed 26 May 2012).
In 2007, CONICET awarded 4,602 scholarships for local students to undertake postgraduate studies in Argentina and 31 scholarships for foreigners to study a PhD in Argentina.
By relying on foreign agencies (e.g., the Fulbright Commission or the British Council) or the universities of the centres of knowledge production, especially US universities that have more funds for postgraduate students as well as a structure of teaching and research assistantships, students accept a series of topics that are prioritized by foreign agencies and universities and that may have nothing to do with local problems or needs (Alatas 2001).
Laclau had been Schuster's classmate at UBA several years before.
Information concerning the reasons behind the decision of some scholars to remain in metropolitan fields could complement this research and provide another form of testing our findings. Where possible, such information was gathered through secondary resources (published interviews, autobiographies, and informal exchanges).
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Medina, L.R., Baert, P. Local Chairs vs International Networks: the Beginning of the Scholarly Career in a Peripheral Academic Field. Int J Polit Cult Soc 27, 93–114 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-013-9150-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-013-9150-y