What is your job/position?
Upcoming graduate, Rupert’s-Carola University, Heidelberg. Former Government Affairs Associate. Currently working for myself as an author, critic and cultural analyst, emphasizing written media, historical scholarship, and film.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
I came to BYU to specifically study American cultural theory. After learning at the “Y” for 3.5 years, I had the opportunity to finish my degree while completing an internship through the Washington Seminar. It was a handy experience, but in the face of a pandemic, it was extremely difficult to secure work. For the two years following graduation, I went to work in whatever capacity my family needed in order to live; sometimes I worked with business development in Washington, DC; other months, I worked as a farm hand or forklift operator. Eventually, I decided I would like to go back to school to secure greater pay as an educator and secured a great opportunity at the Ruperto-Carola University in Heidelberg, Germany, as a graduate student. I am currently finishing my master's, having gained experience in civil rights history, human geography, linguistics, and literary studies in history. While in Germany, I have enjoyed working as a tutor, helping to construct and teach a lecture series on American literature during the Cold War. After graduation from Heidelberg, I will be returning to the states to look for work. And in the meantime, I will also continue to be engaged in academia through writing reviews and brainstorming future projects of my own.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
Learning how to write and process a wide variety of information quickly has been helpful to gaining success and respect in the workplace. Learning to recognize good history and media to recommend to others has been integral to becoming an effective teacher. My best moments professionally have come when I've been able to craft well-written memorandums for clients or provide students with good questions to begin a conversation on material I am learning with them. Additionally, it is important to develop thick skin in learning how to write and present, and to take harsh criticism of your work seriously. Taking ownership for mistakes in your work product is the most rewarding and valuable lesson that I learned from my professors at BYU. The willingness to seek criticism and correction from colleagues and employers is the best thing you can do to improve your chances of success, in and out of the classroom. That is my chief advice to any student who's asked me for advice: stop worrying about a GPA, learn to take risks, and gain new skills and depth in your professional field.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
Surprisingly, American Studies provided me with a unique language to navigate spiritual and political issues. It has helped to answer personal questions, put perspective on human purpose and life, and explain how the gospel continues to be relevant despite significant pushback from some in our field. For example, I spent most of my two degrees studying and understanding the development of social studies and American Studies as a professional field. One of the chief issues that I focused on was the development, deconstruction, and assessment of the cultural "canon" (sets of works or ideas that could be considered representative). Learning about the issues scholars ran into when trying to create a representative body of works helped me to understand the need for continuing revelation and the unique, logical position of the Church that backs BYU's mission. Based on my years-long survey from literary studies, a closed canon can lead people to struggle to answer critical questions about interpretation, language, and evolving moral specifics for a culture as time goes on. With an open canon, it is possible to learn new or more relevant interpretations of a text that could provide valuable insight to the function of religious, literary, or historical phenomena. And, in my opinion, maintaining an open canon keeps scholars, disciples, or followers from making the mistake of placing too much importance on one specific interpretation of a text at the expense of others that might provide them with greater discoveries. In this way, then, American Studies has given me an appreciation for continuing revelation. The canon the Church maintains is essential for helping keep us close to God and remember his commandments. But without continuing prophetic, authoritative voices, it would be easy to fall into the same situation as the early Church in the Meridian of Time. I am grateful that (contrary to what Roland Barthes contended) the Author of our faith is not dead and that he continues to care and speak to people who diligently seek him and seek to please him. And I am grateful for a continuing canon, in the form of prophetic teaching, that can correct, clarify, give nuance, add to, and elaborate further on revelation from heaven. These realities have helped give me greater appreciation of the Church's position, granted me empathy and perspective on other's views outside of the Church, and encouraged me to be patient when the things I learn appear to conflict with each other. It's helped me to understand that history and theory are just a couple of tools people can use to learn truth. Neither is perfect, but you can gain greater perspective from them as you both study diligently and exercise faith in the Author of Truth.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
I wish I would have planned on additional training and experience prior to finishing my undergraduate degree at BYU. A bachelor’s in this subject alone really doesn’t set you apart in the fields of government or education. Many times following my degree, another candidate or colleague would get a job because they had the same knowledge I did plus an additional technical skill or academic certification. Moreover, it can be extremely difficult to try and maintain income while working in perpetual unpaid internships; I certainly do not recommend going the internship route for work experience. American Studies is a great starting point towards government service or life as a scholar; that extra training in law, public administration, education, statistics, or other technical skills or trades is what really has made the difference. In short: plan on a secondary degree or additional training as necessary.
*You can contact Jacob with questions about his American Studies story at jdhawkins94@gmail.com.