280 research outputs found

    'Today, how can we not speak of the university?' Towards the next generation...

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    Universities are currently in a period of transition as the Humboldtian institution reaches its limits and we move towards the next generation. These limiting factors include the massive expansion of higher education and increase in student numbers; globalisation; and demands that universities contribute to the development of the 'knowledge economy'. Change is inevitable – but does this leave the university in crisis? Is the university still a functional institution? In this paper my aim is to uncover just how far we have gone in this transition towards the next generation institution; to celebrate those institutions that have embraced these opportunities; and to consider the implications of all this guided by (and providing a partial answer to) the question once posed by Jacques Derrida: ‘Today, how can we not speak of the university?’ The paper concludes by considering whether there is room for a dysfunctional university, a university that in a sense opposes the call for functionality? In other words, is there (still) a role for a university as a critical and radical institution

    Identification and desire: Lacan and Althusser versus Deleuze and Guattari. A short note

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    The paper constitutes an exploration of the construction of academic identities through a retrospective autoethnographic narrative analysis. In what is an essentially experimental mode I set out to examine processes of identification, and in particular, the understanding of desire that lies at the heart of them, for, it can be argued without desire there is no identity. Therefore, I begin my analysis by following two lines of thought concerning desire. The first, drawing on the work of Lacan, conceives of desire negatively as lack (Fink 1995; Lacan 2001). The second deriving from the work of Deleuze and Guattari (2004/1987, 2004/1972) constructs desire as abundance, a positive force. These two conceptualisations may, at first sight, appear to be opposed but is this necessarily the case? The question to be examined then is, to what extent can these two conceptualisations of desire - as lack and as abundance - be held to be incommensurable? And following this, can an unstable accommodation between desire as lack and desire as abundance be drawn on in theorising processes of identification and the subjectivities that these processes give rise to? If identification is always (already?) an inherently unstable process, located within a space, which I shall designate a narrative space, how does a mobilisation of desire which moves between lack and abundance enable a creative and experimental conceptualisation of processes of identification to emerge

    Perspective by incongruity in the performance of dialectical ironic analysis: a disciplined approach

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    The importance of dialectic to sociological thought has been recognised by many of the discipline’s most eminent thinkers. Adopting a dialectical world view infused with irony provokes insights revealing logical contradictions, so opening up possibilities for the development of alternative interpretations of the social world. There is, however, very little in the way of method to support the development of dialectical irony as a key analytical tool for the social sciences. This paper seeks to remedy this deficit. Drawing on three key examples (trained incapacity, functional stupidity and interpassivity) the paper examines Kenneth Burke’s ‘perspective by incongruity’ as a means for interrogating the dialectical moment, so contributing towards the development of dialectical ironic analysis within a methodology of humour

    Micropolitics of desire: participant self observation, critical autoethnography and the (re)turn to the baroque

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    Participant self observation is a form of critical autoethnography developed as a means to theorise institutional identifications and which seeks to unravel the question posed by Gilles Deleuze, ‘why do we desire what oppresses us?’ PSO is located within a baroque framework drawing on the ontology of the fold which entails a rejection of linearity and the embrace of complexity; and the epistemology of the Wunderkammer, created through the collection and artful display of textual, visual and kinaesthetic ‘research objects’. The paper presents a selection of these research objects showing how the analytical handling of these produces the fleetingly glimpsed objects of desire as points of identification

    Enacting educational partnership: collective identity, decision-making (and the importance of muffin chat)

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    The rhetoric of partnership is ubiquitous in the current policy context. In education, partnerships take a number of forms among which is ‘interorganizational collaboration’ (IOC), defined as a partnership between institutions/organizations aimed at developing synergistic solutions to complex problems. But policy has a tendency to veneer, obscuring its enactment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine what such partnerships look like on the ground. Here we present an empirical analysis which aims to produce knowledge about the working of such collaborative groups and to provide insights into leadership within such partnerships. Drawing on communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) operationalised within a schema for understanding the emergence of collective identity in IOC, we undertake an analysis of meetings held by a working group comprising academics and local authority staff set up to develop masters level work-based professional learning for teachers. We ask, how do professionals working within different contexts create a collective identity that supports decision making, and what are the implications for leadership

    An education in irony: why academics need to be funny

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    First paragraph: Despite what some people might think, academics are not all humourless boffins out of touch with the real world. They can also be funny, and some are turning to humour to help get their messages across.https://theconversation.com/an-education-in-irony-why-academics-need-to-be-funny-5526

    Opening the 'black box': what does observational research reveal about processes and practices of governing?

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    Despite several decades of research on governance, very little is known about processes and practices of governing and, crucially, the links between governing and organisational performance. This has led to calls to penetrate the ‘black box’ of the boardroom by conducting research which draws on data gathered through direct observation. Such calls, however, have so far produced a rather sparse and inchoate literature which would benefit from review in order to give shape to the field and provide direction for future research. Here, we critically examine the findings of this research, in particular focusing on three emergent themes: (1) the extent to which empirical research supports the established theories in the field, particularly agency and stewardship theories; (2) what research says about ‘good’ and ‘effective’ governance and the relationship between them; and (3) the methodological and conceptual orientations which frame this research, in particular the claims made for ‘processual’ approaches. We conclude with an agenda for taking the field forward in order to extend knowledge and to contribute to theory around governing

    Virtual peer mentoring: can we create a community of peer-supported learners?

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    This paper reports on an investigation into peer mentoring at Northumbria University, the results of which indicated that students would welcome a peer mentoring scheme but that, given the piecemeal nature of contact between mentor and mentee, a virtual peer mentoring scheme was more appropriate than one conducted face-to-face. A concurrent project at Northumbria University was engaged in investigating student use of the University's virtual learning environment, the eLearning Portal (eLP). Results of this project gave some indication of what might inhibit the introduction of a virtual peer mentoring scheme based around the eLP
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