Posted on by leahjunck · 2 Comments

Post-submission question marks

Question mark made of puzzle pieces | A big question mark ma… | Flickr

A few months ago, and upon submitting my PhD thesis in anthropology, I started hunting for jobs. More accurately, I took a breather before I actually sat down in front of my laptop again with that intention. Letting go of my thesis before taking that step had been an entire process in itself. It meant breaking up with an entire period of being engulfed in writing, living and breathing my subject.

Finding work is not an easy task in these times, as anyone might be able to imagine. Even without Corona – how does one figure out what to do after their postgraduate degree? What am I actually qualified to do and what is it that I want to do? I found myself staring at my screen that was, for the first time in months, not cluttered with open taps and documents, and watched the cursor hovering over an open Google page. It quickly became clear that it was crucial to finally grapple with these questions in order to figure out which platforms would be useful. One may think that I had had plenty of time to figure this out. I’m in my early 30s and have studied in my field for quite some time now. There is often the assumption that starting a postdoc is a decision to commit to academia – for better or worse, until… but does it have to be? – I asked myself. Especially at this juncture, I was harbouring ambiguous feelings about academia, its brand of competitiveness and politics of knowledge production. If ever the was a time to question the assumption of academia and I being an item, it was now. I also had to ponder whether I would be staying on in South Africa. I have been here for 10 years, but am still on a study visa, which makes it difficult to find work. And if I decided to go elsewhere, where would that be, and would my partner be able to find work there?

So what might I do outside of academia? This is by no means an obvious question to answer. Throughout my studies, I remember being repeatedly told that you can do ‘pretty much anything’ with an anthropology degree. This means that anthropologists could be desirable in all kinds of projects that involve a qualitative evaluation of human behaviour in a certain context. But what exactly are these and how do I find them? My previous work in research had sort of just ‘happened’ after replying to an email circulated at the department. Admittedly, I felt a little lost and left alone, especially given the lockdown situation and with campus and its career facilities not being physically accessible. And for an email, my questions seemed too broad and yet too discipline-specific to be directed that way.

After a lot of unfocused googling for keywords like ‘anthropology jobs’ and ‘researcher’, I gravitated towards looking at postdoc positions. At least they would answer the ‘where’ question for me. Also, I love doing extended fieldwork and enjoy analysing and writing. So it could not be that wrong of a choice, I mused. Besides, how sure is anyone ever about what they really want? There seem to be many and, at the same time, very few choices online. Or few that are a good fit and that may be an actual possibility with ongoing global immobilities. Currently, I am still in the process of combing the internet with this somewhat narrower approach but am much more enthusiastic about it. I will keep you in the loop about how it goes.

Posted on by mauro95cesar

Earth’s heart attack’ moment

The natural world is fading, the evidence is all around… But if we act now, we can yet put it right.

Sir David Attenborough

Growing up we are constantly reminded by our parents to eat our fruits and vegetables, drink water, and go to bed early. These habits are soon forgotten. Many individuals throughout the world lead extremely unhealthy lifestyles, consuming excessive amounts of sugary foods, alcoholic and fizzy drinks, and developing bad habits including a lack of exercise and smoking. Many of these people end up having serious health problems, including diseases, heart attacks, and other complications. For lucky individuals this is just a scare, and one which shocks them into changing their habits. My great grandfather did exactly that.

My great grandfather, Joao Infante, who I never got the chance to meet, was an ice-cream salesman. He was an incredibly kind and positive person, and his title of ‘salesman’ was used loosely. If a child were short of money or had no money at all, he would make sure that they still got an ice-cream. Because of this, he was loved throughout his community. Joao enjoyed 1920 Aguardente which is a strong alcoholic drink. The name Aguadente translates to “firewater” in English. At the age of 59, he was told by his doctor that he had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor said he had only a few months to live, and so there would be no point for him to stop drinking.  

Devastated by the news, Joao went to see a specialist. My great aunt Delores Infante tells me of that interaction. She sat with Joao and the specialist told him that every drink he had was equivalent to him putting another nail in his coffin. Stunned by the statement, Joao decided that from that day he would never drink alcohol again and that he would lead a healthy lifestyle. To pass his craving he would put a few drops of 1920 on his hands and just smell it. He went on to live another 11 years. In the end, Joao did not pass away from liver problems as his liver had recovered. 

Humans are not only responsible for their own personal wellbeing and health. We are also increasingly influencing the earth’s climate and biosphere by burning fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests, draining wetlands and polluting oceans and rivers. Scientists have continually warned against these poor habits that promote climate change and biodiversity loss, which may hinder a sustainable future for life on the planet. We can relate that to a doctor telling their patient: ‘You ARE going to have a heart attack’. We would assume that, naturally, the individual would make some serious changes to their lifestyle to avoid this.

So, why is it that scientists are warning us constantly about the imminent demise of ecosystems, yet we see little collective change? Perhaps we do not believe our scientists as much as we do our doctors. Are we the patient that has been warned and continues to live with bad habits? Or do we need the global equivalent of a heart attack to change our behaviour?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to the earth’s heart attack moment/scare. Ironically, a study suggests that global warming may have indirectly contributed to the coronavirus itself. More people working from home due to the pandemic may mean less air pollution, but this is projected not to make a significant long-term improvement. Climate scientists state that the global pandemic has actually placed less importance on climate change mitigation and more importance on the public health crisis and economic losses. 

The climate crisis is not just about global warming, in recent weeks large areas across Europe and North America have had record-setting snowstorms. The US state of Texas experienced record low temperatures, the states water and power supply were not ready for the freezing conditions leaving communities without power and water for days. Reports of at least 58 people had died in storm areas due to hypothermia, house fires, car accidents on snow-covered roads or poisoned by carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles or generators in closed spaces.

Texas in February 2021. Click here to see images of the record snowstorms in major cities across the world.

Such devastating disasters call for global change. It is up to each and every individual to come together to live a more sustainable and less impactful life. As Michael Jackson’s famous song says: ‘I’m starting with the man/woman in the mirror’. It is too easy to look to others, look to government or big organisations for positive change, it starts with you. You might be saying: ‘climate change will not affect me, why should I care?’ Maybe not right now, maybe not in five years, but your children will definitely experience climate change in its full force, and they will not be happy about it.