Interviewproject

Subjektgruppe II
Sandra Lehmann und Andrea Roedig

1. The Subject of the Story has to become a Real Subject 
(Short General Reflections on the Interview Project)
Sandra Lehmann

Our project is an ongoing project. We conduct interviews with post-doctoral scholars in the humanities, preferably, between their early 30's and mid 40's. The interviewees should express themselves biographically about their present and past life situation. This includes the motives with which they have begun to study their subject, the experience during their studies and, finally, their current job situation plus their general existential situation.

There are two aspects connected to these interviews, namely, an “objective” sociological on the one hand, and a “subjective” literary on the other. First, in a way, our interviews resemble interviews in the context of case studies as they are conducted in qualitative sociological research. That means that by focusing on certain selected interview partners, the basic elements of a certain social setting and a certain social situation emerge and become possible objects for further sociological research. So, in our case, the social setting is that of the middle generation of scholars in the humanities, while the social situation is that of precarious working conditions in the academically educated stratum of society.

Second, however, we try to use the narrative element of the interviews to emphasize their story telling character, be it through the way in which we interrogate the interview partners or be it through the way in which we transcribe the conversations, leaving them as unprocessed as possible. I can’t go into the technical details here, and I may not even have to, for what seems decisive in the context of a reflection on subject groups is what we intend to achieve with our approach. There seems to be a certain liberating element connected with storytelling. It does not only set you apart from your immediate experience and the parameters which it follows. Rather, through storytelling the individual biographical space transforms into an open space of possible alternative and, in a sense, infinite ways to live a life, and this is so not only for the person who tells her or his story, but for anyone who enters the space of the story. There is an almost utopian moment in every story, namely, the moment (usually connected to the experience of delight in the story) when it turns out that there are not only different ways to live a life, but that life itself is a space where the ways to live are immeasurable. It is this utopian moment by which our project is guided. In its core, it is a secret and small utopian intervention which takes place, first, in the conversation with the respective interview partner, and second, in the text that we produce on the basis of and in close contact with the conversations.

This intervention seems all the more necessary if one considers the actual content of the interviews, that is, what our interview partners have to tell about their lives. There is one major point I would like to stress, especially, against the background that this workshop-section deals with “subject groups.” Now, the impression is that there is a great and, in fact, terrifying distance between the life situation of our interview partners and the subject groups Guattari imagined. In the existing academic system, there are no groups, but rather mass-like isolated individuals who follow the requirements of this system. This implies (and it could be easily proven by the interviews): a life with only temporary working possibilities, they may be supported by scholarships or short-term employment contracts; the willingness to make short-term changes of location which correspond to the temporary working options, but consume those aspects of life that consist in love and friendship. Instead of them, there exist networks. However, they do so not for the sake of co-operative intellectual exchange, but rather for the sake of the individual career that might be based on them. Also, for the sake of the career, namely, for the supposed increase of your career options, you are strongly encouraged to orient your intellectual work to the scientific mainstream that dominates your field; one should not underestimate this point for in fact, the way to think, that is, the whole habitus of thinking changes the way to be.

Eventually, what comes out of all this? Well, you might be able to present a proper CV, on the one hand. On the other, however, you will have suffered from at least one deep existential crisis. In fact, in the interviews we conducted so far, there is not a single case without the mark of mental suffering. There is anxiety, despair, even paranoia; every time directly connected to the given working situation.

But I don’t want to always talk about our interview partners. For the thing is: They are really just examples, and I would bet that each of us, when being interviewed, would report similar experiences. It is a question of the academic structure and the additional social structures surrounding it.

Now, why don’t we stand up effectively against this system and its conditions? I propose to discuss this question afterwards, together with the question if there are possible alternatives, that is, alternative intellectual associations that might be called “subject groups.” Yet, there is one point that seems to me to be obvious. The widespread lack of resistance has to do with what one may call an “abducted desire” or even, a desire taken hostage by the system. What can be seen quite clearly from the interviews is the following: The interview partners have a close relationship with their intellectual work; it forms a central aspect of their lives, or even, it determines what they wish to be as a person. Accordingly, it is desire what makes them go, namely, the desire to do a work that is intimately connected with their lives. However, the only way to realize this desire leads through the mechanisms and channels of the system, so that whoever is threatened to fall out of the system is also threatened “to fall out of herself,” that is, to lose herself, in a not necessarily metaphorical sense. Therefore, essentially, the system operates on the basis of a death threat.

2. The Content of the Interviews: Four Central Motifs
Andrea Roedig

In den von uns geführten Interviews fallen vier Motivstränge auf; hier kurz skizziert:
(*Namen der Interviewpartner_innen geändert)

1. Krise - Gelingen ist Scheitern
Crisis - Success is collapse

Anne*: "Ich kann mich erinnern, der an dem Tag, an dem ich meine Promotionsfeier gehabt hab, das war der erste Tag, wo ich eine Krise gehabt hab dann eigentlich."

"The very day I celebrated my dissertation-party was the very first day I came into crisis"

Simone: "Den Gedanken, ich hab jetzt mein Leben komplett verpfuscht, den hatte ich, als ich die Habil abgeschlossen habe."

"The thought of having totally screwed up my life came to me when I finished my habilitation."
 
Markus: "Nach dem Doktorat war ich komplett fertig. Ich weiß nicht, worauf es zurückzuführen war, aber wahrscheinlich war es so eine Mischung zwischen „ins Loch fallen“ und „Burn-out“. Also, ich war fertig, müde und habe dann auf einmal auch relativ starke Depressionen bekommen und habe dann auch Medikamente bekommen und so etwas, und habe mich da ganz langsam wieder herausarbeiten müssen."

"After my dissertation I was completely exhausted. I don't know the reasons, was it a mixture of falling into a void or a burnout? I was exhausted and fell into serious depressions; I was on medication and it took a lot of work to get out of it again."

2. Motiv: Nutzlosigkeit der Geistesarbeit für das praktische Leben
The uselessness (worthlessness) of intellectual work for practical purposes

Anne:  "Und dann hab ich überhaupt gesagt: Ich kann mich ja nicht mal als Kellnerin bewerben, ich bin ja völlig ahnungslos, ich hab den Job ja noch nie in meinem Leben gemacht ...  Und ich hab damals gedacht: Sollte ich so was mal machen müssen, ich wüsst gar nicht, ob ich das kriegen würd, weil ich ha überhaupt keine Erfahrung hab im Gegensatz zu anderen."

"I could not even apply as a waitress; I am completely clueless since I've never done this a job in my life."

Simone: "Als ich gar kein Geld mehr hatte, habe ich in der Zeitung Jobs durchgeklingelt, Altenpflege und so was. Ja, die haben dankend abgelehnt, die haben einen Lachkrampf gekriegt, es war kein Durchkommen. Ich dachte, ich mach irgendwas, was ich 10 Stunden in der Woche mache und was ein bisschen Geld bringt und hab gemerkt, das geht gar nicht. ... Die haben mir signalisiert, wir können Leute wie Sie nicht brauchen, null qualifiziert, ich kann nichts in deren Augen. Ich bin auch schon ziemlich alt und hab nichts vorzuweisen"

"At the time when I was completely broke I answered some job-advertisings at a local newspaper, geriatric care or something like that. Hey, they said: thank you no, they laughed at me. I had imagined to work, no matter what, for 10 hours a week, to get some money; but then I realized: this is not possible. ... They signaled: we have no use for people like you, you are zero qualified. I'm no good for nothing in their eyes."

Auch der umgekehrte Fall gilt:

Markus (mit abgeschlossener Buchhändlerausbildung und praktischer Arbeitserfahrung): "Interessanterweise hat das eine eigene Dynamik entwickelt und nach einem Jahr (Studium) war mir klar, dass ich nicht mehr in den Beruf zurückkehren will, den ich vorher gemacht habe, sondern dass ich mich nur mehr ausschließlich mit Philosophie beschäftigen möchte."

"Studying developed its own dynamics – after one year I realized that I did not want to go back to the job I performed before – instead I wanted to engage in philosophy exclusively."

Markus' Frau sagt:
"Ein normaler Job wird dich wahrscheinlich fertig machen irgendwann“
"An ordinary job would probably kill you eventually."

3. Bildungsbegehren: kein (bezahlter) Ort nirgends für inhaltliche Interessen
A hunger for education and no way of being paid

Anne (promoviert, arbeitet jetzt als persönliche Assistentin): "Es war jetzt schon eineinhalb Jahre lang irgendwie traurig, ja.  - Die Traurigkeit, weil ich intellektuell nicht gefordert war, musste ich erst verkraften lernen. ... Deshalb der Teufelskreis, je mehr die Arbeit fad wurde, desto mehr habe ich in meiner Freizeit dieses Projekt und jenes angenommen, mein Freund sagt immer: 'He, du machst viel zu viel, du verausgabst dich völlig, du hast keine Freizeit, keine Wochenenden, es kann nicht sein, dass du ständig nur arbeitest.' Aber ich brauch das, weil das irgendwie meinen intellektuellen Hunger stillt."

Markus: "Ich habe fast drei Jahre gearbeitet und jetzt möchte ich einfach mal Bildung in mich aufsaugen, das wird wahrscheinlich das letzte Mal sein, dass das so möglich ist, dann muss ich eh wieder arbeiten."

4. Hoffen auf die Gunst des Schicksals
Hoping for the good fortune – no way of controlling your destiny

Anne: "Ich kann nur hoffen, dass es irgendwann wieder eine glückliche Fügung gibt für irgendwas"

"I only hope there will be a lucky coincidence for something"

Simone: "Ich habe natürlich die Hoffnung nicht ganz aufgegeben, dass es mal anders wird, dass es irgendeine günstige Konstellation und doch noch eine feste Stelle irgendwo geben wird."

"I have not given up the hope that the situation changes, that a favorable constellation and finally a steady job occurs somewhere."

Markus: "Das Problem, das sich aus der ganzen Situation ergibt, ist das, dass eine bestimmte Unsicherheit Einzug hält, wenn man weiß, man bekommt einfach dieses Kammerl und sein sicheres Gehalt nicht, und da hilft auch gar nicht, dass man all seinen Einsatz bringt, weil auch damit ist nicht gesichert, dass man dieses Kammerl bekommt; auch wenn man schon Jahre oder Jahrzehnte in diesem Beruf arbeitet und seine Referenzen vorweisen kann."