In the land of symbolic capital

I'm now 2/3 done with my prelim exams. Today is my day off. Tomorrow I move back into hell, part 3: geographical area. As my advisor likes to tell people, at this point they already know whether you pass or fail. Could someone give me a call, then?

These things aren't fun. My friend, who is also taking exams, is losing all sensation in her hand from typing. I dragged myself through a 32-hour-writing session with a 100-degree-fever, and probably 78% blood oxygenation from the deepest chest congestion I've ever had. Neither of us slept much, and speaking for myself, I don't even remember what I wrote.

Prelim exams don't really test any actual skills we need to have. When will I ever again have to write 30 pages in 32 hours, incl 8 hours for rest (ha!)?! According to all those people who try to reassure you, they don't expect much in the way of quality writing. Wouldn't it be better for me to create some quality writing instead, in maybe fewer pages and more time?

They also say prelim exams are "just a hoop" to jump through. But if they're just a hoop, why do we have to do them? Yes, prelim exams are a rite of passage, but anthropologists study those. No need to go "native" now, people.

In short, prelim exams are a way of accumulating symbolic capital, as the theoretically fashionable social scientist would say. [The snide would probably add, it's the only capital we're accumulating, since academia isn't exactly a goldmine] I don't like, I would respond.

In the land of symbolic capital, I'm not having much fun these days.