The Academic is a Genre of Exclusion - Essay Example

The academic essay is a genre of exclusion Life of mind has its own power to investigate, research and express. It is the essence of academic writing, and particularly writing academic essays. The zeal of learning and the enthusiasm to put that in form of writing is a stimulating factor which sets aside the academic genre from the rest of the public. These are specialized group of thinkers who learn to stimulate their own mind as well as the minds of others. This is selective world of writers finding originality of expression through research, analysis and introspection. This selective genre of writers who are involved in writing academic essays are intellectuals striving to be “transparent” and “clear” on a wide range of diverse writings with reflections and judgments about writing. They enjoy their freedom of thought and expression, making the observation part of their intellect and selectively filtering the cream from the content and they have selective audience. The academic essay is a genre of exclusion. This group of stimulated minds which, are involved in academic writing thrives and fosters within the university system. This is very different from the writing which emerges out of the academy, form the public and commercial domain. Academic writing though addressing the selective group of people, and rewarded specially within the limited circle of university system has a position of growth in the modern times as there is greater exposure to a greater number of people across the globe. There could not have been a better time for such selective writer to influence the minds of their selective audience with the power of reaching to them taking full advantage of e-publishing and print on demand. The new technology has given new life to the exposure of academic journals. This gives them an edge of advantage which they did not have before. Though academic writing is confined in its content, vocabulary and procedures, in the present day highly competitive environment there is greater opportunities to keep the young academics engaged and stimulated. Academic writers with their highly introspective approach and imaginative and intellectual abilities have the power to penetrate into the issues of cultural, social, political and economic matters with deeper insight and understanding. They delve in reflective and controversial issues which sees the bigger picture more critically, and “becoming a critical intellectual involves “working hard on difficult texts”, and it entails “undergoing something painful and difficult: an estrangement from what is most familiar”.(Olson,2003,p.9)Academic writing requires a certain elevation of the thinking process aiming to reach the depth of the subject while understanding the psychology and the socio-ethnic aspect of the influence. This specialized group of academic writers feels that intellectual work is so demanding and so painful, that many academics simply avoid it or take to more commercial mode of writing. This gap between the popular writing and the academic writing is like a double movement in which the audience has to choose from one side to another. This can result in the general public and the intellectual to drift apart in their journey of exploration of this humanity which I the common ground for both the genres. The distinction between the public and the intellectual has been a subject of periodic debate, which clearly needs to define the relation ship between the public and the intellectual. There is a fine line which divides as well as binds the two segment of communication addressing audiences of different caliber and interest. This debate is about what an academic intellectual is and what a public intellectual is. “Meanjin” is a literary journal which is devoted to high end academic writers and intellectual audiences. This magazine devoted an issue to academic writers, analyzing their position and their opportunities in the present modern day world. Some of them who were optimistic were happy about the opportunities for new ideas and expressions in the new media focusing on the universities and book publishing. Some people held different opinion about the use of knowledge and learning in universities as reduced entity in the form of commodity in the present race of media bazaar and e-publishing. They feel that this is not suitable for the position of the intellectual elites, as forces which once dominated the realm of freedom and moral authority The importance of critical intelligentsia which comprise the collective importance of thinking and that includes both the intellectual and the public, has special role in the raising the moral authority of the system and acknowledge the freedom of the audience. This exclusive group can have influence o the deeper aspects of life, morality, virtue and goodness. The freedom of expression and introspection the very essence of academic writing has its influence from the ancient philosophy of Plato and Socrates, which offers deeper investigation and inquiry into the happenings of this world with reference to various aspects of good life full of thinking and insightful writing. There have been radical changes in both the universities and the publishing industry, one of the critical questions is to estimate the grounds which concern vital questions regarding the emergence of the new generation of thinkers and the writers who are going to be the influencing factor for the next generation through their thoughts, expressions and ideas. These young thinkers are going to be the part of the public culture, which needs to be in touch with the elevated intelligentsia. They need to be influenced by the depth of their vision and thinking to help lift the society, morally and economically. This puts a great pressure the academic writers to join the public group, the most penetrating question is will they join the group. Homi Bhabha beautifully captures his intimate relationship with writing when he recalls Toni Morrison saying to him once, “Writing is all”, If you can do it in the writing and through the writing, through the actual writing, you can’t do it by giving ideas or thoughts.”(Olson, 2003,p.37) Bell Hooks uses her unique voice to communicate her experience and her love for enriching experiences as par of learning and academics. She is concerned with the interlacing dynamics of race, gender, culture and class and her overall orientation to the whole person and to their well-being when connected with her ability to engage with educational practice in a direct way set her apart from the vast bulk of her contemporaries. She loved learning. She gives a very practical observation of how ideas changed her thinking and her character. Her experience of the change brought on by the idea is pure pleasure. She also understood the fine line of the conformity at home and her ability to forget herself completely at school to remerge through ideas and reinvent her passion. In this beautiful expression by this impressionable writer, who can be very aptly categorized as an academic writer who is of exclusive genre, where education and learning is the core essence of intellectual stimulation and higher thinking of the bigger world with better prospects for wroth and nurturing? In the area of innovation and research, the role of young scholars is very significant. They are the minds capable of discrimination and judgment, and have a very valuable responsibility of changing the minds and transforming the society. This is the terrain between visible and invisible, where personal tone and private sensibility merge to create a genre with exclusion who has the power to deeply influence and transform the world through their powers of academic essay and writing. “I find writing so hard, so ardous, so painful” (Olson,2003,p.30) this is the confession of Mary Field Belenky who is engaged in a purely academic –intellectual writing which deals with “research that’s embedded in Interpretive-descriptive process”(Olson,p.30), where her major goal is to articulate clearly the understandings based on her interpretation of the content and writing is very integral to this process. Intellectualism as an expression of writing has become exclusive to the point that very few selective people are engaged this form of writing which is hard work and critical thinking, lacking appeal to mass audience in the present modern world. Works Cited Olson and Worsham, Garry A. and Lynn (2003). Critical Intellectuls on Writing. New York: Sunny Press. (Olson, 2003) Read More