Geography for geography's own sake?

Further to my rather academic-angst outbust yesterday.

I realise that I am not, by any long shot, the only person to have questioned my reasons for doing what I do - infact there is a fair body of literature which deals specifically with the idea of relevance. Today's seminar, and the discussion of the papers that had caused my little mental implosion, have managed to calm me down somewhat: everyone else had run into a similar question at some point, this was to be expected if you are genuinly thinking about the point of your work. Small mental implosions seem to be an up-shot of Geographical research, it would seem (further reinforcing my thorough belief that Geographers are the Emo-kids of the academic world).

However, with that came the REAL realisation: What IS my answer? Why AM I doing this?

Honestly, and somewhat cynically: my research training will give me better prospects of getting a job - purely and simply. Sad isn't it? I came into my MSc a few months ago with a very idealised vision of what I would achieve: my work would be relevant, and would actively contribute to debate. And now...well...things change: my work deals with minuta of lifestyle, and doesn't tackle any big topics, not really. It will probably be a very competant piece of work, but will have very little merit beyond that.

So, here's what I would like to propose to all academics: be normative and progressive! Think about how things ought to be and propose ways of getting there: social justice, remember? Don't get so bogged down in the world of red-tape which governs universities and academia in general - remember what your passions are and use those passions to help change the world. That's what all this is about, right?