Over the last few years I've had an ongoing conversation with a well-known Chicano scholar friend about why many of our colleagues had published so few books. Initially, I simply criticized but then I took to thinking more seriously about the reasons and less about passing judgment. Now, mind you, not all scholars in Chicano studies belong to disciplines that require books, and there is no intent here to imply that writing books is the only or best mark of a good scholar. Nor a good writer. Books do, however, require a particular skill and devotion that is different from writing articles, essays or putting together anthologies, all of which are legitimate approaches to scholarship.
So, what I say here does not apply to all Chicano/a scholars but it does apply to those whose discipline requires it and those who have begun but never finished one. The following reasons for not finishing a book or for finishing only one book in a long academic career can also apply to nonChicano/as who might face similar problems. They are as follows in my opinion:
Feeling out of place. The academy is still a strange place for many of us. In my department a good number of my colleagues are children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews of college or university professors. I still have yet to meet a Chicano colleague in that situation. This means that for the first few years we often find ourselves attempting to acclimate ourselves to not only the institution but to its culture. And this takes time way from focusing on our book.
We are pulled every which way. This is a problem for most young faculty who bring something that might be perceived as unique to an institution. As soon as I arrived at my first major university I was assigned to all the diversity committees, asked my opinion on all issues dealing with Latinos, and even had local high school teachers asking if I could play the guitar and come sing to their students.
We want to do what is not being done. Since we are often what Arturo Madrid use to call the "onlies"--the only one's in our department, in our field, in the committee, etc.--we get involved in doing things that we believe need to be done but aren't. So we become club advisors, community liasons, protest leaders, and "spokesperson" for every cause that involves our community. In some cases, we develop what famed attorney Gus Garcia use to call a "Messiah complex", and come to believe that if we don't do it, no one will. Often times we are right. When we sit at our desks to write we think of all the things that need to be done on the outside, and sometimes we go out and do them.
We don't get socialized into the system. When I was a journalist I wrote an article on why many Chicano/as did not get tenure. There were many reasons but the one that stood out was that most Chicano/as are never socialized into their departments, which means they don't get good mentors, are not directed toward research funding, don't get research assistants, not provided leave time and have few advocates when the process of tenure comes up. Too often we come in as the "onlies" and remain the "lonelies" in our department.
Terrible Mentoring. Academics are terrible mentors, and Chicano/as scholars are among the worst. Oh, Chicano/a scholars might be good with undergraduates and even graduate students, but once their former mentorees get academic jobs, they turn into "friends and colleagues" and seem to find it embarrasing or uncomfortable to be seen as mentors. As one of my colleagues likes to say, "we all think of ourselves as independent contractors". Since most Chicano/as rarely had good mentors, they don't really know what it means to be a good mentor. It is hard to be a productive scholar without good mentors or colleagues that help you find your rythmn.
Not trained to write. Finally--and I will have more to say about this in part 2--people are not taught to write in the academy. After our English courses and maybe a capstone course in which we have to write long research papers, little time is set aside to teach us how to write unless you are in creative writing or other English programs. And since few professors are taught how to write, they don't know how to teach it. Oh, they might be good writers themselves but since they often learned it "on their own" they expect others to do the same.
So here we have Chicano/as (and others) in a new and strange environment, pulled in all different directions, pushed by their necessity to do something that isn't being done, unsocialized to the system or even marginalized within it, terribly mentored or not at all, and never been trained to write other than a research paper; maybe even having finished their dissertations by pansazos (bellyflops? you have to be Mexican to fully understand this). To this we can add that the majority of Chicano/as/Latino/as teach in junior colleges, small liberal arts institutions, or large middling state schools that have a heavy teaching load, little research and travel funding and you get an idea of the obstacles to producing a scholarly book. (I won't deal with personal problems thought these are sometimes the main culprit)
To write scholarly books requires concentration, funding, travel, research assistance (sometimes that is a luxury) mentoring, and a feeling that what you have to say is important and appreciated. And we are not yet even talking about the actual process of researching and writing.
But these are reasons not justifications for failing to write a book or just one in a long academic career. After all, some Chicano/as do get recruited into a supportive environment, get adequate funding, are assigned mentors and have been basically taught to write. Some are even in colleges in which there are a number of other Chicano/a colleagues. Why don't they write more books?
In my next post I will talk a bit more about the process of writing and why some lack it. But first, let me say that I will dispense with the "they are lazy", thought some are; "they are in the wrong profession" which some are; "they are not smart enough--I will leave that alone. They all apply to someone or another, but I've known some who fit into one or more categories and still write books. Heck, I think that I have fit all of them at one time or another and I have five books and two on the way. I don't think myself as somehow above the average but there were things I learned early in my profession and in some form or another most productive Chicano/a scholars did too.
I would like to know if anyone can add to the above, so if you have something to add please do so. Not only Chicanos, of course.
Part 2 will come sooner than next thursday.
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