<p>This passage is adapted from a novel about an archaeologist on a dig in the Yucat</p>
<p>Popularity is not the mark of a properly rigorous academic work. I believe that their distrust of my work reflects a distrust of me.</p>
<p>This means that just because your work is popular, it doesn’t mean it’s legit academic work. And then the author proceeds to explain that, she or he (the author) thinks the reason his or her college don’t trust his or her work is that they don’t trust the author.</p>
<p>So the reasoning is this, I distrust you, so I distrust your work. Likewise, just because your work is popular, that doesn’t mean it’s rigorous academic work.</p>
<p>Does this make any sense?</p>
<p>I believe that my fellow garbage collectors regard my work as suspect because it has become quite popular. Popularity is not the mark of a properly rigorous academic work. </p>
<p>So, just by reading these two sentences, you can realize that popular work is regarded with suspicion/contempt because it’s not “academic”. So, the second sentence basically gives an explanation as to why her fellow garbage collectors regard her work as suspect.</p>
<p>Thanks Benjamin and ccuser</p>