Ethnographic dispatches from the neoliberal academy

This text consist of four brief ethnographic vignettes, offering personal observations and poignant recollections of the consequences of «neoliberalisation» at University College London, where I was employed for eighteen years until I took up a new position at a German university in September 2014.This text consist of four brief ethnographic vignettes, offering personal observations and poignant recollections of the consequences of «neoliberalisation» at University College London, where I was employed for eighteen years until I took up a new position at a German university in September 2014

THE EXODUS OF LETNICA - CROATIAN REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO IN WESTERN SLAVONIA A Chronicle

Riječ je o etnografskom izvješću o zbivanjima koja su uzrokovala gotovo potpun egzodus iz Letnice, male hrvatske enklave na Kosovu. Kronika ovoga egzodusa uključuje i povijest naseljavanja hrvatskog stanovništva s Kosova u zapadnu Slavoniju. Autor se usredotočuje na teškoće s kojima su se izbjeglice susrele, nastojeći se prilagoditi svojoj novoj situaciji.This is primarily an etnographic account of events that led to the almost complete exodus of Letnica, a small Croatian enclave in Kosovo. In 1992, during author\u27s fieldwork there, the population of Letnica and the surrounding villages fled to Croatia, mainly due to existential fear and insecurity caused by the war in Croatia, and locally fueled by threats from armed Serbian extremists. This exodus is described against the background of similar events in the Vojvodina. The chronicle includes the history of their resettlement in Western Slavonia, in five mainly Serbian villages that were ravaged during the war (1991) and have been deserted by their original inhabitants. The author focuses on the difficulties these refugees have encountered in adapting to their new situation, and attempts - on the basis of these first-hand ethnographic data - on formulate some general questions for future research

Deconstructing and Reconstructing. Embracing Alternative Ways of Producing, Classifying and Disseminating Knowledge

U ovom kratkom radu autori se zalažu za temeljito preispitivanje i reorganizaciju proizvodnje znanja. Intelektualna i kulturna nejednakost dio su socioekonomske nejednakosti. Kako možemo stvoriti bolji svijet ako nismo načisto s premisama znanja koje o tom svijetu imamo te načinom na koji se ono proizvodi? Moramo pažljivo razmotriti što je utišano, a što se glasno izgovara, što je zamagljeno, neprimjetno iako je očigledno ili čemu je dano središnje mjesto. Zadatak nije samo jasno razabrati ono što se ukazuje nakon što se iskopaju te duboko ugrađene pretpostavke. Riječ je i o tome da je potrebno stvoriti nove riječi, nove metode i nove institucije koje neće ponoviti iste greške. Zalog je sljedeću generaciju odgojiti drugačije kako bi bila spremna ucrtati novi put za proizvodnju, klasifikaciju i korištenje znanja na konstruktivniji i inkluzivniji način.In this short piece, we argue for a fundamental reconsideration and reorganization of knowledge production. Intellectual and cultural inequality are part and parcel of socioeconomic inequality. How can we create a better world if we are not clear about the premises behind the knowledge that we have about that world and how it is produced? We need to look carefully at what is silenced and what is said out loud; at what is obscured, hiding in plain sight, or given centre stage. Not only is the task at hand to see clearly what comes into view when these embedded assumptions are excavated. It is also to create new words, new methods, and new institutions that do not repeat the same mistakes. It is a plea to train the next generation differently, so they are prepared to chart a new path toward producing, classifying, and using knowledge in more constructive and inclusive ways