u/Odd_Detective_667

So, my husband and I are at a crossroads. We are both 38 years old from Argentina, living in Italy since 2023 (he’s a citizen, I have a residence permit and will get citizenship in a while). We both have PhDs in Literature (his in Hispanic Literature, mine in Comparative Literature) and have recently held postdoctoral fellowships in our fields. We have solid CVs and we speak three languages and can learn the next one easily. We don’t have kids but wish to have the economic stability to be able to do it sooner rather than later.

Buuut we are not getting any work in academia, fellowships are a funnel with a cork at the end. Colleagues in the field say the same thing, there is no money, there are no fellowships, etc. Everything is ad honorem and it’s gotten to the point where we have to make money giving private lessons and translating. It’s not enough, though, as our energy is split between still trying to stay in academia (going to expensive symposiums, workshops, networking, devoting a lot of time to writing papers, etc.) and actually working for pay. Academia is not so much something we would be quitting as something that has quit on us.

We are giving it one last chance this year, but seriously thinking about starting 2027 with a clean slate. The thing is… we never trained to work outside the world of research. We can write, translate, give lessons and we have never been afraid of long hours. But it all pays very little (Italy seems to pay very little for cultural endeavors in general). We don’t know many people in Italy outside of academia (or Europe, for that matter) and seem to be missing data. We need serious advice about “how the world works” here. 

Should we change countries? (coming back to Argentina is not an option, as our country is practically on fire. I mean within Europe). Should we move into giving lessons in English in the hope of broadening our “clientele”? Should we just keep giving lessons and translating, trusting it’ll just grow? We are not that young anymore and know ourselves: we can only/mainly work from home and daily contact with people is a no-go, so work outside our field is not an option. 

I guess I’m asking for a massive brainstorming.

So, my husband and I are at a crossroads. We are both 38 years old from Argentina, living in Italy since 2023 (he’s a citizen, I have a residence permit and will get citizenship in a while). We both have PhDs in Literature (his in Hispanic Literature, mine in Comparative Literature) and have recently held postdoctoral fellowships in our fields. We have solid CVs and we speak three languages and can learn the next one easily. We don’t have kids but wish to have the economic stability to be able to do it sooner rather than later.

Buuut we are not getting any work in academia, fellowships are a funnel with a cork at the end. Colleagues in the field say the same thing, there is no money, there are no fellowships, etc. Everything is ad honorem and it’s gotten to the point where we have to make money giving private lessons and translating. It’s not enough, though, as our energy is split between still trying to stay in academia (going to expensive symposiums, workshops, networking, devoting a lot of time to writing papers, etc.) and actually working for pay. Academia is not so much something we would be quitting as something that has quit on us.

We are giving it one last chance this year, but seriously thinking about starting 2027 with a clean slate. The thing is… we never trained to work outside the world of research. We can write, translate, give lessons and we have never been afraid of long hours. But it all pays very little (Italy seems to pay very little for cultural endeavors in general). We don’t know many people in Italy outside of academia (or Europe, for that matter) and seem to be missing data. We need serious advice about “how the world works” here. 

Should we change countries? (coming back to Argentina is not an option, as our country is practically on fire. I mean within Europe). Should we move into giving lessons in English in the hope of broadening our “clientele”? Should we just keep giving lessons and translating, trusting it’ll just grow? We are not that young anymore and know ourselves: we can only/mainly work from home and daily contact with people is a no-go, so work outside our field is not an option. 

I guess I’m asking for a massive brainstorming.