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VIDEO DOI: https://doi.org/10.48448/b8pw-hz88

live discussion

AAA Annual Meeting 2021

November 18, 2021

Baltimore, United States

Mentoring the Mentors: Meeting Graduate Student Needs in a Post-Pandemic World

keywords:

precarity

labor/labour

advising/mentoring

Historically, academia has paid little attention to mentorship. How does one learn to mentor grad students? What does it mean to be a good mentor? Most mentors of grad students have had no training in mentorship per se, and were themselves trained in a radically different job market context. At the same time, most grad student mentors have followed an academic career track, giving them skills to advise students in how to pursue academic jobs but little experience or knowledge about how to use an anthropology degree outside this sector. Over the past few years, the number of events and even businesses (e.g. Beyond the Professoriate) intended to help students navigate transitions away from academia has ballooned, demonstrating a marked interest and need for helping graduate students learn how to apply anthropological skillsets beyond academic anthropology. This event differs in its focus not on the students considering non-academic careers but on the mentors who work with those students. As more and more grad students seek guidance with pivoting toward alt-ac and non-academic jobs and the job market context shifts dramatically, it’s not just students who are seeking guidance in this brave new world. It’s the mentors. This roundtable discussion among several scholars with a strong track record of mentorship for alt-ac students will offer insights, guidance, and strategies for mentors of graduate students seeking to better equip the students they work with to confront shifting challenges brought about by the neoliberalization of the academy, increasing precarity of academic and teaching labor, a global pandemic that has brought about major changes to how we work. While addressing challenges, the event will be constructive aiming to discuss both challenges and emerging opportunities for trained anthropologists outside academic contexts. This event is the first in a new series and longer conversation SEA is developing to ensure that mentors have up-to-date understandings, skills, networks, and strategies to best address changing graduate student needs.

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