Beyond “Academicization”
The Postwar American University and Intellectual History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12740204 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard F Teichgraeber (Tulane University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 127-146 |
| Publication date | 2011-03-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Intellectual History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1479-2443 • E-ISSN: 1479-2451 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1479244311000072 |
| OpenAlex | W2108738133 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
The still astonishing expansion of the American university since World War II has transformed the nation's intellectual and cultural life in myriad ways. Most intellectual historians familiar with this period would agree, I suppose, that among the conspicuous changes is the sheer increase in the size and diversity of intellectual and cultural activity taking place on campuses across the country. After all, we know that colleges and universities that employ us also provide full- and part-time academic appointments to novelists, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, choreographers, composers, classical and jazz musicians, painters, photographers, and sculptors, even though most of them probably began their careers with little or no desire to join us in the halls of academe. This now widespread employment practice has decentralized the nation's literary and artistic talent. It also has made for a manifold increase in degree-granting programs in writing and the creative arts. One example will suffice here. When World War II ended, there were a small handful of university-based creative-writing programs. Over the course of the next thirty years, the number increased to fifty-two. By 1985, there were some 150 graduate degree programs offering an MA, MFA, or PhD. As of 2004, there were more than 350 creative-writing programs in the United States, all staffed by practicing writers and poets, many of whom now also hold advanced degrees in creative writing. (If one includes current undergraduate degree programs, the number grows to 720.)
Aesthetics · Art · Diversity (politics · Higher education · Jazz · Liberal arts education · Media studies · Painting · Period (music · Political science · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · World War II · Artistic and Creative Research · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · History · Law · Narrative Theory and Analysis
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2014 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |