Co-Publishing in Theory

[peternewman89]

I went to a prospective student visit this weekend with the potential members of my cohort at the school I'l be attending come fall this past weekend.  It was quite an informational bombardment, and I'm still trying to take everything in. I was one of 2 theorists out of 13 prospective students, so my field is decidedly different from that of nearly everyone else.  

 

One thing that the presenters and faculty emphasized, though, was collaborating with faculty to publish, getting your name out there and having papers and posters to present at conferences.  I'm just wondering how applicable that will be for me.  I know that some work in theory that tends to straddle the lines between theory and other fields (primarily IR) can have some components where collaboration is possible, but my field is history of political thought, and the professor who will in all likelihood work as my advisor doesn't seem to have co-authored anything in 30 years, which makes sense given the subject matter of his work.  Will this be problematic for me in trying to build a reputation, get my name out there, and build a decent CV? Is it feasible to public solo as a grad student in political theory? 

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Every book I read said to find someone who will co-author with you. Because according to what I was told, "you will be nowhere near ready to publish until maybe year 2 or 3."

I went to a prospective student visit this weekend with the potential members of my cohort at the school I'l be attending come fall this past weekend.  It was quite an informational bombardment, and I'm still trying to take everything in. I was one of 2 theorists out of 13 prospective students, so my field is decidedly different from that of nearly everyone else.  

 

One thing that the presenters and faculty emphasized, though, was collaborating with faculty to publish, getting your name out there and having papers and posters to present at conferences.  I'm just wondering how applicable that will be for me.  I know that some work in theory that tends to straddle the lines between theory and other fields (primarily IR) can have some components where collaboration is possible, but my field is history of political thought, and the professor who will in all likelihood work as my advisor doesn't seem to have co-authored anything in 30 years, which makes sense given the subject matter of his work.  Will this be problematic for me in trying to build a reputation, get my name out there, and build a decent CV? Is it feasible to public solo as a grad student in political theory?