The academic's muse

I think, reflect, observe, create. I do not know the literature. I have not learned patterns of thinking and ways to conceptualise the social world by reading the works of those who have gone before me in wondering about the social world. 

What value do I bring to academic life?

I bring the value of the muse. I sit and interact with those who know the literature and have engaged at a personal level with many of those who write. I bring an academically uninformed critique to academics, an alternative way of seeing the social world. As I grapple with reflecting on their learning, their citations, their 'that reminds me of...' as we talk about some thing of mutual interest, I begin to adopt the guise of an academic. But as yet it is a very shallow veneer.

I was bemused by an academic who felt only able to research 'her field' because that was her expertise. To me, she has much wider expertise, so much to say that can apply for other fields and other phenomena. But I think now that what she was saying is that her sense of expertise is conjoined with her knowledge of the literature and those currently producing literature. To her, I am her muse. If she were to apply herself to another field, she would become the muse to someone else.

I value the role of muse as a distinct and valid contribution to academic life and research. Without a muse, it is easy to become distanced from the social world beyond your office, and down that road lies stagnation.