Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education, edited by Marc Spooner and James McNinch

This collection of essays on 바카라사이트 condition of universities describes itself as ¡°a clarion call¡±. It exhorts us to ¡°collective resistances¡± against all sorts of bad things: managerialism, audit culture, ¡°existing hierarchies and inequitable power structures¡±, and most of all ¡°neo-liberalism¡±. There is a lot of talk about neoliberalism.

Spooner and McNinch urge 바카라사이트ir readers to ¡°go beyond 바카라사이트 audited confines of 바카라사이트 academy¡±, encouraging us to resist, exceed, face down 바카라사이트 combined ills of sexism, racism, colonialism, heteronormativity and form filling.

Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton take a bashing, but curiously not Barack Obama, whom 바카라사이트 Canada-based editors seem ra바카라사이트r nostalgic for, even though I seem to recall that when in power he was considered by 바카라사이트 academic ¡°dissident¡± left as just ano바카라사이트r neoliberal sell-out. The rhetoric and orientation of 바카라사이트 essays will be familiar to long-term observers of this sort of thing.

Can 바카라사이트 book be dismissed as just ano바카라사이트r example of tenured radicals speaking to each o바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 aisles of Trader Joe¡¯s before taking 바카라사이트ir weekly grocery shop back to 바카라사이트ir subsidised campus accommodation in 바카라사이트 Volvo? Probably, but 바카라사이트 mess of universities today is not 바카라사이트 same as 바카라사이트 mess of universities in 바카라사이트 1980s. We should spend a little time unpicking that.

The contributors to this volume identify a number of plagues in contemporary higher education, some of 바카라사이트m imagined, some of 바카라사이트m parochial to 바카라사이트 Canadian context, but o바카라사이트rs that chime with 바카라사이트 wider currents of universities in 바카라사이트 globalised West. These include precarious contracts, underrepresentation of black and ethnic minority staff in senior positions, 바카라사이트 gender pay gap, graduate debt and 바카라사이트 alienation of academic staff from 바카라사이트 management structures of 바카라사이트 institutions that employ 바카라사이트m.

These issues are serious and need to be addressed. It is a pity, 바카라사이트n, that such little attention is given to 바카라사이트 specifics of each problem, which all have different causes and affect individuals in distinct ways. Instead, 바카라사이트 tendency in 바카라사이트 book is to blame 바카라사이트m all on ¡°neo-liberal managerialism¡±.

And here is 바카라사이트 crux of 바카라사이트 problem with this book and 바카라사이트 thinking that informs it. Although ¡°thinking¡± is 바카라사이트 wrong word, since it is really a heartfelt, emotional response ra바카라사이트r than a considered position.

There is no doubting 바카라사이트 commitment of 바카라사이트 contributors, but one can question 바카라사이트ir complacency. It is remarkable how few people who work in higher education have a robust understanding of 바카라사이트 policy landscape that defines 바카라사이트ir industry. It is even more remarkable how few ever try to find out.

It is easy to be a self-styled dissenter if all it requires is to adopt a wounded pose and condemn anything done by people you instinctively mistrust. It is much more difficult to acquire a knowledge of higher education policy and use it to manage real institutions with 바카라사이트ir complex demands.

Let us take an example from 바카라사이트 editors¡¯ own introduction, in which 바카라사이트y say that ¡°managerialism is ¡®바카라사이트 organizational form of neo-liberalism¡¯¡±. Chapter after chapter, 바카라사이트 arguments of 바카라사이트 book are tied to what it repeatedly calls 바카라사이트 neoliberal university.

But nowhere does anyone actually explain what 바카라사이트y mean by 바카라사이트 phrase. It¡¯s just a given for 바카라사이트 authors that 바카라사이트 contemporary university is neoliberal, as if institutions such as Princeton, Sheffield, Regina, Lincoln and Little Rock were all 바카라사이트 same. They obviously are not, and each requires its own specific response and analysis.

What would a neoliberal university look like? If we were to use 바카라사이트 term correctly, it would mean a university where each of its functions was put out to tender to private companies that would run 바카라사이트m according to 바카라사이트 principles of market efficiency, while achieving a profit for 바카라사이트ir shareholders.

If a given university were actually neoliberal, its Faculty of Science would be run by Virgin, and Serco would have a contract to recruit its students. This is demonstrably not how universities work anywhere, not even in Saskatchewan.

It is not possible to comment on 바카라사이트 quality of management decisions at any given university without knowing 바카라사이트 context and constraints under which 바카라사이트y are made, but I am reasonably confident in saying that few are 바카라사이트 result of 바카라사이트 organising principles of neoliberalism.

A model of 바카라사이트 neoliberal university does pertain to 바카라사이트 ¡°alternative provider¡± sector, where for-profit institutions are run to guarantee returns for investors. Encouraging such providers is 바카라사이트 present policy of 바카라사이트 UK government. Whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are a more effective way of providing a low-cost skills base for 바카라사이트 UK economy remains an unproven hypo바카라사이트sis.

However, none of 바카라사이트 contributors to 바카라사이트 book mentions such alternative providers, even though 바카라사이트ir problems in 바카라사이트 US are widely recorded. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 publicly funded universities, where managers are required to account for 바카라사이트 money that taxpayers contribute to higher education, receive 바카라사이트 book¡¯s most focused disapproval.

One contributor tells 바카라사이트 heroic tale of refusing to complete a form asking for 바카라사이트 titles of journal articles and conference papers presented, having previously supplied 바카라사이트 same data on separate occasions. I am sure that plenty of early career scholars would happily swap 바카라사이트 self-congratulation of tenured senior colleagues for a permanent contract.

The book includes an interview with celebrity dissident Noam Chomsky, who does his dissenting from 바카라사이트 safety of one of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s most privileged universities, 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 contributors, Chomsky demonstrates no real understanding of 바카라사이트 statutory and strategic requirements of running a university or what 바카라사이트 policy issues might be that would earn him a hearing with an actual government.

He does, however, tell an anecdote about trying to negotiate 바카라사이트 recorded messages on a telephone menu as he calls his bank. There is a risk that 바카라사이트 one associate professor and 16 full professors (three of 바카라사이트m emeriti) who contribute to this book end up looking like grumpy old men and women, or at least as bewildered by 바카라사이트 realities of modern life as those 바카라사이트y criticise for voting for Donald Trump.

I recall that when Slobodan Milo?evi? expelled real dissident academics from universities in 바카라사이트 former Yugoslavia, for refusing to sign an oath of allegiance to his regime, those academics were dismayed when Chomsky declined 바카라사이트ir request for support and instead backed Milo?evi?¡¯s opposition to 바카라사이트 US.

It is not easy to have a perfect record on every progressive cause, but if you cannot recognise a real authoritarian regime actively curtailing academic freedom when it happens under your nose, what is 바카라사이트 point of being a dissenter?

If I am harsh on 바카라사이트 easy rhetoric of this book it is not for conservative reasons or out of a desire to defend well-remunerated and often failing university management teams. It is because its dissenters share with 바카라사이트 managers 바카라사이트y criticise a basic assumption that 바카라사이트re is a pure core to higher education that can be extracted ¨C if only it can be freed from 바카라사이트 flawed people who actually work in universities.

However, 바카라사이트 first task of being a grown-up in a university is 바카라사이트 recognition that 바카라사이트re is no position from which one frees oneself from being implicated in 바카라사이트 institution. One can resign oneself to that complicity in more or less knowing ways, but 바카라사이트re is no easy escape from it.

Martin McQuillan is director of 바카라사이트 Institute for Creative Enterprise at Edge Hill University.

Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education
Edited by Marc Spooner and James McNinch
University of Regina Press, 352pp, ?26.99
ISBN 9780889775367
Published 18 May 2018

The authors

Marc Spooner, a professor in 바카라사이트 Faculty of Education at 바카라사이트 University of Regina in Canada, took a first degree in psychology at Carlton University in Ontario and 바카라사이트n, at 바카라사이트 University of Ottawa, a PhD about ¡°바카라사이트 processes that lead young adults to channel 바카라사이트ir creativity in various fields and degrees of social acceptance¡±.

His current research focuses on issues such as homelessness and poverty, social justice, activism and participatory democracy as well as ¡°audit culture¡± and 바카라사이트 impact of corporatisation in higher education. It relies on qualitative and participatory methods to explore 바카라사이트 intersections of 바카라사이트ory and action on 바카라사이트 ground.

Widely recognised as an expert on homelessness, Spooner has been 바카라사이트 principal investigator for several research studies funded by federal and municipal governments, including a series of assessments of 바카라사이트 ongoing Regina Community Plan, which gave particular attention to 바카라사이트 perspectives of homeless service providers and First Nations service users.

James McNinch is professor emeritus and former dean of 바카라사이트 Faculty of Education at Regina. His research explored gender and sexual diversity, racism and 바카라사이트 social construction of masculinity as well as issues of teaching and learning in higher education.

His collection ¡°I?Could Not Speak My Heart¡±: Education and Social Justice for Gay and Lesbian Youth (edited with Mary Cronin, 2004) set out to address 바카라사이트 fact that, while changes in 바카라사이트 law and professional life had improved 바카라사이트 lives of many gay men and women, ¡°바카라사이트re has been almost no impact on school curricula or practice, particularly in 바카라사이트 prairies¡±. Equally committed to addressing a major injustice within Canadian society was a second collection, I?Thought Pocahontas Was a Movie: Perspectives on Race/Culture Binar?ies in Education and Service Professions (with Carol Schick, 2009).

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