Long Road

I’ve never been to the MLA, but I had plenty of friends in grad school who did and now have many colleagues who go. In some ways English has been the one field that has embraced the moniker of digital humanities the most, and yet, even they, according to this article, are struggling to see how to fit it into the structure of the university.

Some other things I noticed: Digital-humanities panels tend to skew younger than most, and the sessions are well attended but not usually packed, like celebrity panels — perhaps the field is still too emergent and collaborative. No doubt, one of the problems faced by the digital humanists is how their work is valued in the status economies of the profession. Many panelists speak in a tone of urgency with the expectation of skepticism. (I used this tone myself, when explaining the field to administrators.)

When I was at the Vectors seminar both as a fellow in 2005 and then this summer as a presenter this question came up. In fact there was a discussion about it on the HASTAC blog a while back too. The worry is this: “Can I get tenure as a digital humanist?” “will the research i do “count”? And, now, in the current economic “downturn” the worry is even more pronounced. One thing that junior scholars can do is discuss this early with their mentors, chairs and deans. In 2006 after a year at WSU I set about getting the conversation rolling and now as I am about to go up for tenure next year, we have in our department promotion to tenure guidelines a section for “electronic and creative work.” In other words, IT COUNTS. How much? That’s tough to say, as always the university-wide tenure process is shrouded in mystery, who knows exactly how the university level panel will understand the digital components of my work; but I know my department and my chair do and I’ve made it a point to discuss these projects one-on-one with all three of the deans we’ve had in my 5 years here! It is also up to those of us doing digital research and producing digital projects to make them relevant and demonstrate how exactly they are scholarship. It’s good to see that MLA is embracing digital humanities on such a wide scale at their meetings. I hope there is more of it at the AAA meetings next year, but I won’t hold my breath.