Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 12:03:21 -0400
Subject: Re: PLC: China?


I don't have a very insightful response, but ...
I spent a more than a year in Belgium on a research grant and taught a grad
course in Foucault while there, and I can't discern that it had any general
effect on my job searching.  Some people will think it's cool, fewer people will
think it's not 'conventional' and a little wierd.  The most important thing, I'd
say, is that the year's activities be clearly relevant to you field.  Teaching
English as a second language won't get you any brownie points, I think.  In any
even, I don't think it can hurt you so long as you don't fall victim to 'out of
sight, out of mind' with people back here that can help you along.

Ciao,
Reg

Howard Hastings wrote:
> 
> As I write this, my wife, Mary, is wending her way down the Yangtze river
> towards Shanghai.  She is in China for a month conducting voice master
> classes at Chengdou, Shanghai, and Beijing universities.   So far she has
> impressed her hosts, who want her back next year, if possible.
> 
> She has enjoyed this trip so much that we have been discussing (via
> fax) the possibility of teaching for six months or a year in China.  I
> would, of course, teach literature and cultural studies, not voice. And
> I would  love to learn more about Chinese culture, while mediating
> American culture to Chinese.  Though I am no expert on China, I am very
> interested comparative cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and Marxism,
> and would probably learn a lot there, making my teaching activities
> relevant to my CS field.
> 
> But I am also wondering how this sort of adventure would help
> or hinder my efforts to get an academic job in the U.S.--e.g. with an
> English dept. somewhere.
> 
> Has anyone out there in Phillitcrit land ever taught or lived in China?
> If so, I would appreciate hearing about the experience.
> 
> Also I wouldn't mind hearing from those who have not been to China but
> have some idea of how teaching there might be regarded by a search
> committee here in the states.
> I fear it might not be highly regarded at all by people looking
> to fulfill a more traditional position, though it might be a plus
> where familiarity with cultural studies or multicultural issues is
> desired.  (I am assuming here that I would actually be teaching a
> subject in a university with some kind of rank, and not just, say,
> tutoring students in English or something.)
> 
> hh
> 
> PS  Of course, I would not do this until after I got my PhD.
> .....................................................................
> 
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