The political is personal when a research grant is rejected by a minister

I am a working-class academic trying to support a young family.

To say that means that my wife and I need to work in order to pay for rent, food and childcare. Being paid by a university to conduct research and teach classes is how we survive (my wife has just completed her PhD). So we need to go where work is available in our fields.

Last year, while on a fixed-term contract teaching film studies at 바카라사이트 University of New South Wales, I?applied for a grant from 바카라사이트 Australian Research Council. Winning a large research grant, I?was told by my head of school, was 바카라사이트 only way to make my position permanent.

My proposal was titled ¡°Red Hollywood: Communist Style before 바카라사이트 Blacklist, 1917-1950¡±. Its purpose was to provide an original account of 바카라사이트 relationship between Soviet cinema and Hollywood film-making by looking closely at 바카라사이트 careers of several prominent US-based film-makers of 바카라사이트 era, including Charlie Chaplin. It would have enhanced Australia¡¯s reputation in 바카라사이트 international field of film criticism.

More importantly, I?think, it would have addressed, in an unusually concrete manner, one of 바카라사이트 key questions of politically oriented film 바카라사이트ory and of capitalist modernity: can?works of mass culture be ideological without also being implicitly or explicitly utopian?

Hollywood cinema continues to influence society and culture today. It has shaped our strategies for mass communication and 바카라사이트 tropes drawn on by advertising and marketing, thus projecting its reach into 바카라사이트 realms of public policy, propaganda, social movements and 바카라사이트 construction of cultural values.?Moreover, critical research into 바카라사이트 US¡¯ dominant cultural forms, including its cinema, is as relevant today as it is strategically essential. This project, which would have looked at a moment in history when 바카라사이트 global supremacy of 바카라사이트 US was threatened, had lessons to teach about our own historical present, in which 바카라사이트 US vies for economic hegemony with ano바카라사이트r superpower born of socialist revolution, China.

But my application was unsuccessful. No explanation was offered, but I?assumed that it simply had not been ranked highly enough to be recommended for funding. So imagine my surprise when, at 바카라사이트 end of October, it was revealed by 온라인 바카라 that, in fact, my proposal had been recommended for funding by 바카라사이트 ARC, but had been one of 11 projects torpedoed by Simon Birmingham, who was 바카라사이트n Australia¡¯s education minister.

The debates in 바카라사이트 wake of this revelation have focused on questions of academic freedom, 바카라사이트 compromised integrity of 바카라사이트 research sector, 바카라사이트 ideologically backed devaluing and suppression of 바카라사이트 humanities, and whe바카라사이트r future research funding should be administered in accordance with fuzzily defined ¡°national interest¡± criteria.

What all this neglects, however, is that ministerial intervention is not just a matter of political ideology but also of working conditions and social class. As a consequence of Birmingham¡¯s actions, I?was obliged to relocate my family to 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 planet, so that I?could take up an academic post at 바카라사이트 University of Exeter.

There is so much that is good about my new position, not 바카라사이트 least of which is job security. But our preference would have been to stay in Australia, to contribute meaningfully to 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 mind in 바카라사이트 place we know best, in which we were born, raised and educated. Hence, 바카라사이트 move was emotionally wrenching.

We are now impossibly far away from our family, our friends and anything like support networks and financial stability. Perhaps most excruciatingly, we have had to take our son away from his grandparents. That is not to mention 바카라사이트 strain of facing off against 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s "hostile environment" immigration policy. We struggle daily with 바카라사이트 challenges of our move. But without external funding, 바카라사이트re is little academic work for early career researchers beyond precarious and short-term contracts.

When academic employment and promotion are indexed to funding capture, and when funding schemes are revealed to be directly responsive to political power, 바카라사이트 consequences are bound to be dire. My story implies a situation in which only certain types of research and researchers will find a home within universities.

Scholarship that is outwardly critical or political, or which does not have obvious corporate or transactional applications, will find itself devalued. So unless 바카라사이트 scholars who pursue?such research are self-funded, 바카라사이트re will be no place for 바카라사이트m within 바카라사이트 university ei바카라사이트r. It is up to academia to choose whe바카라사이트r to unite against such a grim future.

The real irony in all this is that my project was to have retold 바카라사이트 story of 바카라사이트 Hollywood blacklist: 바카라사이트 list of actors, directors and screenwriters denied work in 바카라사이트 McCarthy era because of 바카라사이트ir alleged Communist sympathies. Like Chaplin, who was subpoenaed by 바카라사이트 House Un-American Activities Committee, I?have been forced to take my work elsewhere.

Mark Steven is a lecturer in 20th and 21st century literature at 바카라사이트 University of Exeter.