Editors' Introduction: Ethics, Celebrity, and the Representation of Teaching in the Profession

Abstract

This issue of Pedagogy opens with Gail Stygall’s examination of a specific instance—the struggle over the unionization of teaching assistants at the University of Washington — that crystallizes the ongoing question of the journal itself: What is the relationship between praxis and theory? That is (to paraphrase Marianne Moore on poetry), how do the “real toads” of our everyday professional lives thrive in the “imaginary gardens” that are our theories? As editors, we struggle with our own toads. In his series of columns as the new editor of PMLA, Carlos J. Alonso has identified many of them; in particular, we were struck by his discussion of the move in the profession away from refereed submissions and toward solicited ones. As Seth Lerer argues in his letter included in one column, “Now it is not acceptance but solicitation that marks achievement — you know you’ve made it when you’re asked for an article” (Alonso 2001: 10). Though Alonso points out some of the difficulties faced by PMLA that might account for the recent makeup of its issues, we find Lerer’s concerns compelling, because they highlight the tension between the culture of celebrity that permeates our field and the desire of editors (and, we believe, of the profession as a whole) to see quality scholarship reach its audience. This tension is not easily resolved when even editorial practices such