Tempered radicalism: A model for navigating academic practice and identity in the twenty-first-century neoliberal university?

This article explores Meyerson and Scully's concept of ‘tempered radicalism’ (1995) in the context of contemporary academic practice and identity. We report on a collaborative autoethnographic study which addressed the question: ‘What does the concept of tempered radicalism mean to us as academics in contemporary higher education?’. We explore how the concept of tempered radicalism allows us to consider our own actions and abilities to drive change within an increasingly challenging higher education environment moulded by the policies, values and practices of neoliberal economics. In this context, we share differing perspectives on what it means to bring a values-based criticality to our work. It is the breadth of Meyerson and Scully's concept which allows us to approach this exploration in a way which emphasises commonality rather than difference and facilitates collaboration. This article therefore showcases the utility of tempered radicalism to academics with a range of perspectives

Positions postmémoriales: lecture et écriture de la période après l’Holocauste dans l’oeuvre d’Anne Michaels intitulée Fugitive Pieces

Anne Michaels’s novel, Fugitive Pieces, has been criticized for its highly poeticized representation of the Holocaust. In this essay, however, Marita Grimwood argues that the novel uses structures of narrative transmission to explore precisely the difficulties of representing history and trauma in language. Grimwood proposes that the representation of three key characters is central to this undertaking. First, Jakob Beer, the child survivor and poet who narrates two thirds of the novel, is positioned as an intergenerational mediator, belonging fully neither to a pre-war nor a postwar generation. Two further characters (Ben, the child of survivors who narrates the end of the novel, and Michaela, Jakob’s second wife) symbolize the figure of the reader after the Holocaust, negotiating a link to the past through their interpretation and witnessing of Jakob’s life. The novel recognizes the problems inherent in communicating meaningful knowledge of past events to those living in the present. Yet, partly through Jakob’s vocation as a poet, it proposes also that poetry is a tool, however imperfect, for the communication of such knowledge.Le roman Fugitive Pieces d’Anne Michaels a été critiqué pour sa représentation grandement poétisée de l’Holocauste. Cependant, dans cet essai, Marita Grimwood allègue que le roman utilise des structures de transmission narrative pour explorer les difficultés que l’on éprouve à représenter l’histoire et le traumatisme dans le langage. Grimwood propose que la représentation de trois personnages clés est centrale à cette entreprise. Premièrement, Jakob Beer, l’enfant survivant et poète qui raconte le deux tiers du roman est mis dans la position d’un médiateur intergénérationnel qui n’appartient complètement ni à une génération de l’avant-guerre ni à une de l’après-guerre. Deux autres personnages (Ben, l’enfant de survivants qui raconte la fin du roman et Michaela, la deuxième femme de Jakob) symbolisent la personne du lecteur après l’Holocauste et négotient un lien au passé à travers leur interprétation de la vie de Jakob, dont ils ont été témoins. Le roman reconnaît les problèmes inhérents dans la communication de savoir significatif d’événements passés à ceux qui vivent dans le présent. Pourtant, en partie à travers la vocation de Jakob qui est poète, le roman propose aussi que la poésie constitue un instrument, quoiqu’imparfait, pour la communication d’un tel savoir

The Holocaust as family history : beyond the second generation in North American Jewish writing

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A Neglected Area: Development Opportunities for Doctoral Researchers Involved in Project Mentoring and Supervision

This paper calls for consideration of appropriate support and development for doctoral research students involved in supervision of undergraduate and Master’s degree projects. This subgroup’s professional development tends to be neglected in academic development and the related literature. The paper describes a development workshop offered regularly to this group over four years. Presenting evaluation and focus group data, the authors argue that although institutional structures can inhibit such development activities, there are benefits to PhD students, project students, and lead supervisors when doctoral research students’ supervision is validated and supported. They call for further research and development provision in this area