Saturday, January 10, 2004
DRONING ON AT THE AHA. The annual meeting of the American Historical association is being held in Washington DC this week-end. Despite its proximity, I am not attending because 1) I'm too busy getting ready for classes that start next week; 2) The AHA seldom has many Asia-related panels; and 3) Academic conferences are usually pretty boring affairs. An eye-witness to this year's festivities bears out #3 as follows:
Some 600 historians listened to the talk. McPherson read his remarks, but succeeded in striking a lively stage personality, to the relief, no doubt, of the audience. The same could not be said for many other speakers during the day, who seemed never to have considered the welfare of the audience as they droned on and on in a monotone voice, apparently determined not to make any concession to their listeners' comfort. That most audience members apparently managed to remain attentive is probably true, but what must these professors' undergraduates think when confronted with such performances in the classroom? One can only imagine that they cannot be terribly impressed.I couldn't agree more. Our job as academics is, ostensibly, to communicate to other people. I would add that we should be able and willing to communicate to both specialists and interested non-specialists. And yet virtually every academic conference I have attended has been populated by far more presenters who clearly have given little if any thought to actually presenting their findings and arguments (as opposed to merely reading them) than good communicators. It is scary and more than a bit embarrassing.
