Disrupting the Ethical Imperatives of “Junior” Critical Qualitative Scholars in the Era of Conservative Modernization

In this article, we wrestle with the core issue of how early career researchers translate central tenets and core concepts of critical theory and critical methodology into their research practice. By way of creative representation, we draw from bell hooks and Cornel West’s (1991) written rendition of their verbal dialogue in Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life. Their hope was to offer the book in a dialogic format in such a way that mirrored the synergy in their verbal discussions as friends and intellectual colleagues. In a similar vein, we hope to share with readers the synergy and depth of the narratives that have transpired during our ongoing discussions on the important topic of critical praxis as part of a collaborative research group called the Disruptive Dialogue Project (Gildersleeve, Kuntz, Pasque & Carducci, 2010; Kuntz, Pasque, Carducci, & Gildersleeve, 2009).Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

A Portrait of the Transcriptome of the Neglected Trematode, Fasciola gigantica—Biological and Biotechnological Implications

Fasciola gigantica (Digenea) is an important foodborne trematode that causes liver fluke disease (fascioliasis) in mammals, including ungulates and humans, mainly in tropical climatic zones of the world. Despite its socioeconomic impact, almost nothing is known about the molecular biology of this parasite, its interplay with its hosts, and the pathogenesis of fascioliasis. Modern genomic technologies now provide unique opportunities to rapidly tackle these exciting areas. The present study reports the first transcriptome representing the adult stage of F. gigantica (of bovid origin), defined using a massively parallel sequencing-coupled bioinformatic approach. From >20 million raw sequence reads, >30,000 contiguous sequences were assembled, of which most were novel. Relative levels of transcription were determined for individual molecules, which were also characterized (at the inferred amino acid level) based on homology, gene ontology, and/or pathway mapping. Comparisons of the transcriptome of F. gigantica with those of other trematodes, including F. hepatica, revealed similarities in transcription for molecules inferred to have key roles in parasite-host interactions. Overall, the present dataset should provide a solid foundation for future fundamental genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic explorations of F. gigantica, as well as a basis for applied outcomes such as the development of novel methods of intervention against this neglected parasite

Placing academic activism: Constraints and possibilties of faculty work

This study examines the nature of disciplinarity as the institutionalization of faculty work, utilizing academic activism as an entry point for analysis. Through a case study of 14 faculty participants that merges in-depth ethnographic interviews and historical document analysis, this study interrogates the intersection of faculty daily practices and larger social structures. In such intersections, social space and material place are identified; the ways physical environments are shaped and have a hand in shaping individual interpretations of the world are suggested. Data analysis overlaid thematic examinations of participant interviews and historical documents with interpretations based on a framework of conceptual metaphor. Findings from this study confirm that professional identities are shaped through disciplinary processes that occur within social spaces and material places. Further, the data demonstrate how institutionalized places affect the kind of work faculty do on campus and in their professional fields, as well as their social relations among colleagues. Finally, while talking about both institutional space and activist possibilities, faculty described their work utilizing themes of connection, isolation, and integration, three themes that have implications on both social and material levels

Faculty Work Practices in Material Environments: A Case Study

There is an extensive and well-developed body of literature on the nature of faculty work (e.g., Blackburn & Lawrence, 1996; Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006) that has examined numerous aspects of faculty work and sources of influence on that work (e.g., intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, personal characteristics, disciplinary affiliation, institutional type, career stage, collegial relationships, time allocation—among others). Yet, little empirical evidence exists about the relationship between faculty work and the material environment in which faculty engage in their daily professional endeavors. Therefore, this article examines the inter-relationship of faculty work practices and the material environments in which such activities are enacted. Through a case study bounded by 20 social science faculty participants and two social science buildings (Edmunds and Klein Halls, both pseudonyms) at one large research institution in the Northeast, this study interprets the material campus as a technology that both enables and constrains specific elements of faculty work, while also being shaped by the very practices that constitute faculty work. As faculty members work in campus offices, their professional socialization meets the structural design of the buildings in often-contradictory ways. Consequently, as faculty participants negotiate and make sense of their material surroundings in relation to learned work practices, their insights provide administrators and other faculty with key principles and analytic categories to consider in relation to building projects and renovations on their own campuses. In the end, findings from this study point to a specific need to align faculty roles, rewards, and the physical environment of the campus in order to improve faculty work practices and increase faculty connection with their local institution. The two buildings that form the centerpiece of this study were constructed five decades apart, yet were architecturally designed with strikingly similar faculty practices in mind. Both buildings sought to increase collaboration among faculty and students, striving to create material environments that emphasized connection and accessibility over isolation and distance. However, over time, faculty altered the physical characteristics of the older building (Edmunds Hall) in order to reproduce traditional faculty work practices, those activities they were socialized to invoke in the name of efficiency and production. In similar fashion, faculty in the newer building (Klein Hall) saw great promise in its architectural innovations, though they perceived the building as enhancing previously established work practices rather than providing new possibilities for their work. In the end, the findings from this study reveal enduring tensions between the idealized intents of structural design and the realities of institutionalized faculty socialization as well as potential conflicts between localized campus environments and the more global influences of the academic professio

Bourdieu and Academic Capitalism: Faculty \u27Habitus\u27 in Materials Science and Engineering

In today’s interconnected world economy, science and technology (S&T) have become integral to economic growth and development. As such, governments have promoted knowledge-intensive economies in which research, its commercial exploitation, and intellectual work play a growing role (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). In this context, U.S. academic scientists and engineers, who conduct about one-third of all basic plus applied research and 13% of all total research and development (R&D) have become key players in the global economy (National Science Board, 2010). According to the theory of academic capitalism, faculty members in state universities use public resources to create circuits of knowledge that link higher education institutions to the new economy by commercializing research. At the same time, as state funding for research continues to decline, faculty engage in fierce competition for research funding from public and private sources given the high costs of research in S&T disciplines. Moreover, academic capitalism is magnified in these disciplines given the relevance of research in these fields to technologies with commercial potential. In S&T fields, academic capitalism in the academic profession is manifested in aspects such as industry-academia collaborations, spin-off companies, and patenting of research results (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). This image of the faculty-entrepreneur in the new economy is in stark opposition with the traditional role of the academic profession. In particular, social theorist Pierre Bourdieu conceptualized universities and academics within them as shielded from economic and political forces, fully supported by the state, and with a high degree of autonomy that allows faculty and disciplines to generate their own values and behavioral imperatives (Grenfell & James, 1988; Robbins, 1993). Thus, Bourdieu’s views of the academy have been criticized as inadequate to capture the contemporary complexities around academic capitalism (Delanty, 2001). It has also been suggested that Bourdieu was not always consistent over the span of his lengthy career with his conceptual formulations (Swartz, 1997). This may also be the case with his work about the nature of the academic world given that it is clear that higher education as an organizational field is embedded within his broader theoretical framework in which all organizational fields are influenced by larger social, cultural, economic, and political conditions. Based on empirical data, we argue that Bourdieu’s theoretical framework is indeed quite adequate to describe the academic field in light of academic capitalism. To accomplish this, we present Bourdieu’s academic field based on his notions of field, capital, habitus, and strategy, and how these concepts might apply today in light of academic capitalism. Then, using Bourdieu’s academic field as the conceptual framework, we present an empirical study of faculty work in one specific field in engineering that exemplifies current tendencies brought by academic capitalism. Finally, we discuss the relevancy of Bourdieu’s framework to characterize faculty work in light of academic capitalism as well as providing a discussion of practical implications

Disrupting Façades of Clarity in the Teaching and Learning of Qualitative Research

In this article we examine two methodological façades of clarity that commonly shroud critical qualitative educational inquiry. More specifically, we interrogate discussions of reflexivity and positionality and explore the ways in which methodology curricula and instructional practices perpetuate façades of clarity, or a false sense of coherence, ultimately undermining the transformative potential of critical educational research. We identify specific pedagogical opportunities, spaces, and strategies for dismantling these façades and offer ways to reconstruct methodological practices congruent with the emancipatory and empowering aims of critical scholarship

Desmoronando Fachadas de Aparente Claridad en la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje de la Investigación Cualitativa

In this article we examine two methodological façades of clarity that commonly shroud critical qualitative educational inquiry. More specifically, we interrogate discussions of reflexivity and positionality and explore the ways in which methodology curricula and instructional practices perpetuate façades of clarity, or a false sense of coherence, ultimately undermining the transformative potential of critical educational research. We identify specific pedagogical opportunities, spaces, and strategies for dismantling these façades and offer ways to reconstruct methodological practices congruent with the emancipatory and empowering aims of critical scholarship.En este artículo se reflexiona sobre dos fachadas metodológicas de aparente claridad que normalmente se encuentran amortajadas en la investigación de la educación crítica de calidad. Más concretamente, se cuestionan los debates sobre reflexividad y posicionamiento. También se investiga cómo los currículos metodológicos y las prácticas docentes perpetúan esta aparente claridad, o falsa sensación de coherencia. En última instancia, se indaga en el potencial transformador de la investigación educativa crítica. Identificamos oportunidades pedagógicas específicas, espacios y estrategias para el desmantelamiento de estas fachadas y ofrecemos maneras de reconstruir las prácticas metodológicas congruentes con los objetivos de autonomía y de impulsar el pensamiento crítico

The Disruptive Dialogue Project: Crafting Critical Space in Higher Education

The Disruptive Dialogue Project (DDP) is a dialogic network of education scholars committed to fostering conversations that trouble normative practices of critical qualitative scholarship, pedagogy, and methodology, within an interstice of the contemporary educational inquiry landscape. In this essay, we describe the origins of the DDP as well as present a conceptual framework of the Project based on four spatial understandings of our disruptive activity (i.e., the DDP space as energy, alternative, critique, and possibility). Building on this conceptual model, we provide an overview two specific strategies / spaces the DDP intentionally cultivates as means of transformation and resilience – “disruptive” academic conference symposia and bi-weekly DDP teleconferences –and discuss the role these activities play in the development of our critical colleagueship. Our intent in sharing the DDP narrative is not to promote imitation of our project, but rather to encourage other critical scholars to create, seek out, produce and pull apart interstices of their own; spaces that disrupt the hegemonic narratives of educational research and faculty life

England Expects: English Newspapers\u27 Narratives About The English Football Team In The 2006 World Cup

The essence of global sports has been competition among nations at the international level. For football, arguably the world\u27s most popular sport, global rivalries are paramount, and every four years since 1930, it has been the World Cup that has provided this excitement. English newspaper narratives about the English men\u27s national football team competing in the 2006 World Cup were examined to gain insight into how English national identity was portrayed. Using a qualitative textual analysis methodology, this study drew on Anderson\u27s (1983) theory of the imagined community, Hobsbawm\u27s (1983) notion of invented traditions, and the Eliasian (1991) concept of habitus codes. Set against the contemporary trends of devolution, globalization, and a post-7/7 discourse the newspapers relied on a reductionist, essentialist construction to elicit an emotional connection with a homogenous form of English national identity. The narratives seemed designed to galvanize support for the English team through references to historic English military victories and speeches. These served to rekindle images of bygone, mythical, and imperialistic eras. The newspapers also reverted to an \u27us vs them\u27 invective in blaming Swedish manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, for England\u27s failure to win the tournament with the \u27greatest generation\u27. © The Author(s) 2010