Marrying into job security

[Stephan Harris]

It was interesting that some SEELANGers voiced their shock at a comment about marrying someone who is financially secure so that you can continue in the Slavic field. Some Slavists are evidently living in an Ivory Kremlin. I know of one case where the wife has landed a job in Slavic, riding in on her husband's coattails -- even without other candidates' being invited for the tenure-track position. Stop fooling yourselves. Search committees in Slavic often do not select candidates on the basis of their accomplishments. More often than not it is a connections game, just as a young woman in Italy recently described in that country. (The word "mafia" comes to mind, doesn't it?) Landing a job in Slavic is often a connections game, and marriage is one way of making connections. Another effective strategy is to keep down the people around you who might rise into the limelight. Not too long ago there was a case in which the career of a scholar with major accomplishments in about five different areas of Slavic was practically destroyed by accusations of "insensitive speech" made by a colleague who herself was actually sleeping with her students. Gabriel Choreb's "Hogtown", although it is hilarious reading, tells the tragic story well.
  Stephan Harris         

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