Sudhir Venkatesh

[Clueless91]

Hi All,

I'm not sure where to post this so I decided to start a new topic. I have a sick obsession with Sudhir Venkatesh and I would love to take one of his classes! I was wondering how hard it would be to get into a class taught by him at Columbia?

Thanks!

[letstalkshop]

Do you mean if you're already enrolled? Not hard..

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

Do you mean if you're already enrolled? Not hard..

That's what I was thinking... enroll in one of his classes. 

[Clueless91]

Yes enrolled, Thank You!

[letstalkshop]

He only teaches one or two grad classes a year, and I think there's typically a waitlist, but if I remember correctly most of the people on the waitlist end up getting into the class. If you'll be enrolled as a masters student, know that you'll only be able to take 3 electives total.

[Clueless91]

He only teaches one or two grad classes a year, and I think there's typically a waitlist, but if I remember correctly most of the people on the waitlist end up getting into the class. If you'll be enrolled as a masters student, know that you'll only be able to take 3 electives total.

I thought so, thank you for the clarification!

[Pennywise]

I had heard on the grapevine that he was censured by the faculty for some sort of dishonesty. Is that true? There were two separate problems, and I wasn't sure which one he was censured for -- one being that many people think he made up many quotes and events in his sex work ethnography. The second being that he misappropriated some funds from a research center he was involved with. Knowing Columbia, they would care more about the $$ lol.

 

This really could just be idle gossip from jelly rivals, though. Anybody have any verification?

 

OK a quick Google found some substantiation:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/nyregion/sudhir-venkatesh-columbias-gang-scholar-lives-on-the-edge.html?_r=0

 

http://bwog.com/2012/12/02/venkatesh-responds-to-the-nyt/

 

http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/tenuredradical/2009/04/puff-magic-sociologist-review-of-sudhir/

 

This comment got 19 upvotes on a Columbia site:

"Virtually everyone I know who has encountered him, graduate and undergraduate, describes him as an absolute monster and abusive person. There's a reason he hardly ever teaches in the department. Not a surprise."

 

16 upvotes:

"if he's such a big advocate of ethnographic fieldwork and the 'chicago school of sociology', he certainly doesn't seem very interested in teaching those methods to graduate students or supervising their work on committees. if you flip through the dissertation cover-pages submitted to the department of sociology over the past 10 years, you'll have a much a clearer idea of how little he's involved in doctoral committee work of any sort (with research projects, ethnographic or otherwise).

and i'm sorry, but field-trips to paris with undergraduates are simply no substitute for supervising actual ethnographic work in the field, which requires months if not years of a researcher being embedded within a particular community . . ."

[letstalkshop]

It's very trendy to hate Venkatesh. I don't have any personal experience with him but know advisees of his who've had great experiences.

[Pennywise]

Those articles were pretty substantively damning, in a couple different dimensions.

 

Glad to hear that not all his advisees had such horrible experiences, though.

[letstalkshop]

He wouldn't be the only one to do some sketchy ethnography or misuse school funds. Not that these things are okay, but I do think the degree of hatred towards him is curious. I think his mainstream success plays a part.

[Pennywise]

Well, he's one of the top rock stars of sociology right now, right? He's not just anybody, he's a sociology icon -- students (perhaps like the person who started this thread) seem to idolize him. Therefore, his behavior is held to a somewhat higher standard of scrutiny.

 

I enjoy his writing a lot, and think his work (esp his early work) is quite important. I just think his research is super sketchy when you learn, for example, that he didn't take field notes for a lot of it -- how could he possibly remember SO many long direct quotes?

Edited March 12, 2015 by Pennywise

[letstalkshop]

Sure, he's under a microscope as a sociologist who has mainstream fame. But the Sudhir hating gets old pretty fast. Especially at Columbia. I don't even have a stake in defending him...I just think it's tired.