The Department

by Henry Farrell on December 21, 2007

What happens when a bunch of Harvard pol-sci grad students, with, in Dan Drezner’s “words”:http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/003646.html, too much time on their hands, decide to make their own version of ‘The Office’?

It works pretty well (a) because _there really aren’t all that many differences_ between academic politics and the office politics of a paper manufacturer, and (b) because while scholars don’t necessarily make great actors, we _do_ have that ‘not quite comfortable in our own skins and trying to make meaningful conversation but having it filled with awkward pauses’ thing down cold.

{ 3 trackbacks }

Signifying Nothing
12.21.07 at 9:12 pm
The Chutry Experiment » The Department
12.22.07 at 5:23 pm
Länkar at Det perfekta tomrummet
12.26.07 at 5:10 pm

{ 5 comments }

1

Timothy Burke 12.21.07 at 3:29 pm

The interesting game to play while watching is to try and guess if there are people who aren’t in on the joke. I couldn’t help but think that there were a couple of people who might not have fully grasped it.

2

Jabuka 12.21.07 at 3:57 pm

The Bill Kristol fan was kind of…disturbing.

3

amelia 12.21.07 at 4:23 pm

you know, a couple of years ago, in a political science department that shall remain nameless, a similar episode of “hijacking the zeitgeist” led to the second-years’ performance of a skit about team teaching — called, IIRC, “brokeback seminar.”

4

polthry grad student 12.21.07 at 10:13 pm

Why is it always the theorists who get it in the end?

5

aaron_m 12.22.07 at 6:12 am

“Why is it always the theorists who get it in the end?”

I do believe the question answers itself.

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