What Hispanic advertising and mysticism have in common: a musing
This is a just a random thought I had while I was in the shower today.
I noticed that in academic settings, my research interests get tagged on as a sort of suffix to my name. That is, at conferences and faculty meetings and such, I get introduced as "This is Kaitlinwhodoesmysticism," or "This is KaitlinwhodoesHispanicadvertising." Does anyone else experience this, and does anyone else find it weird? (I'm not talking about being identified by one's general subject area - like history, philosophy, etc. - but specific research interests like "Bakhtin and postcolonialism" or "authorship and Cervantes.") I mean, it is one of my primary identifying characteristics, but I find it strange to have that tacked on as part of my identity. Maybe that just comes with the territory in academia.
I noticed that my friends and I also use this at parties when we talk about our coursemates. (This was more the case at Hartford, but then again there are always dozens of M.A. students in Communication and only three M.St. students in Spanish this year.) If there was more than one Melissa, for example, we wouldn't define them as "blonde Melissa" or "brunette Melissa" - instead, they would be "Gender-in-Sports-Media-Melissa" and "Student-Teacher-Interaction-Melissa."
Does this happen in the faculty sphere or in other grad programs as well, or are my friends and I just dorks?
2 comments:
That intellectual identification system may sound heavy but it's better than the system frequently used by my friends "Nice Melissa" v "Evil Melissa" or "Fit Melissa" versus "Scary Melissa". Mind you, those are generally not used to people's faces...
I disagree with Sha...I would be more comfortable being identified by my personality than being limited to being identified by specific interest....
And Kait, I get this alot in my program...totally different subject but I still get the whole "This is Yesenia who is from California and is interested in Latino children and families.." which is only one part of the research and clinical interests that I have....my classmates are introduced by their names and what undergrad school they went to...and that's it....however, this area is really closed so the fact that I am the only person of color in the room..that could play a big role...doesn't make it right though...
But, I at least appreciate being called by my name...there is this thing in our department where a lot of us "different" students (international and/or ethnic minority) are mistaken for eachother..I will be called by the name of the only other Mexican (international) student ...much of the time...it will get written into reports or client forms or in class/meetings...and that is plain insulting...not only do we look and sound completely different but these are people that we have known/worked with for years...
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