What role do academic conferences play in the construction of an academic career? In Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities, Donald J. Nicolson examines the link between the value attributed to participation in academic conferences and the broader neoliberalisation of the academy. Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani welcomes this short book for beginning a meaningful conversation about the significance of this aspect of academic life

Mazanderani, Fawzia Haeri

LSE Research Online

2017-4-10Book Review: Academic Conferences as NeoliberalCommodities by Donald J. Nicolsonblogs.lse.ac.uk /lsereviewofbooks/2017/04/10/book-review-academic-conferences-as-neoliberal-commodities-by-donald-j-nicolson/What role do academic conferences play in the construction of an academic career? In AcademicConferences as Neoliberal Commodities, Donald J. Nicolson examines the link between the value attributed toparticipation in academic conferences and the broader neoliberalisation of the academy. Fawzia HaeriMazanderani welcomes this short book for beginning a meaningful conversation about the significance of thisaspect of academic life. Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities . Donald J. Nicolson. Palgrave Pivot. 2017.Find this book: While rarely interrogated for the role that they play,academic conferences form a significant part in theconstruction of an academic career. Any aspiring, orindeed expiring, academic has at some point presentedat, or attended, a conference. How many researchershave sat sleepily in a stuffy room, listening to the chapwho ate all the egg-and-cress sandwiches at lunchdrone on about something that they suspect might beinteresting and important, but which they can’t quite payattention to because they are too distracted withthoughts of their own impending presentation? Howmany researchers have made obligatory nods to aslideshow that could have been in a different languagefor all they understood, and then bit their lip in silencewhen someone asked a ten-minute question that wasnot really a question but instead sounded suspiciouslylike self-aggrandisement?If such ponderings resonate with you, then you haveprobably found yourself like Donald J. Nicolson,speculating on the value and purpose of attending anacademic conference. Nicolson’s book AcademicConferences as Neoliberal Commodities provides anexploratory study into conferences in the socialsciences, looking explicitly at the link betweenconferences and the neoliberalism of academia itself. Inthis strikingly original work, the author draws upon an assortment of methods, including an analysis of fiveconference case studies, notes made at conferences he personally attended, conference records, abstract bookletsand interviews with people from a range of backgrounds. The novel layout of the book starts each chapter as thougha conference presentation, with an abstract and keywords. Opening with a ‘Welcome’, the reader moves throughseveral ‘parallel’ sessions before the ‘Closing Keynote’. Nicolson, a freelance writer with a background in academicresearch, writes independently of any university or funding body and employs a lucid writing style that makes for anaccessible and enjoyable read.1/3After reflecting upon the difficulties of defining ‘neoliberal’, he argues that, ultimately, the neoliberalisation of theuniversity has resulted in changes whereby in place of the traditional professional culture of open intellectual enquiryand debate, there is now an institutional stress on measurable performance. By seeing knowledge as a product thatcan arise from a conference, Nicolson considers such events as having a role in the ‘knowledge enterprise’ industrythat by promoting a method, data set or research cause as a commodity, becomes the product and marketplaceitself. The academic culture of conferences themselves may vary: a point noted by Les Back when he characterisesAustralian ones as ‘vicious and boozy’, US conferences as ‘status conscious and networking-obsessed’ and Britishequivalents as ‘polite and consensual’. While recognising that reasons for attending conferences are also variable,the book nonetheless demonstrates how the overarching function of the conference lies in its premise of promotingintellectual communication.Image Credit: Conference Break (axisexpress CC BY 2.0)Acknowledging that academia plays out differently across contexts, the book alludes to what conferences of ourincreasingly neoliberal future may look like. Nicolson makes brief references to the rise of ‘5 minute presentations’and ‘posters’, and relays the potential role of Twitter as well as variants on the academic conference, such as TEDTalks. While his own study is not extensive, this raises the need for further exploration of the different directions inwhich academic conferences could be heading and the ways in which technology is changing the traditionalstructure of the conference.Appreciating that ‘the Helsinki Conference would not have been the same had it been conducted as a group email’(17), the author also considers the constraints of conference attendance where travel plays a pertinent role. Heraises concerns about the environmental impact of carbon emissions from airplanes and money wasted onconferences. While academics from universities in the northern hemisphere may enjoy generous travel budgets andmobility, this is generally not the case for researchers coming from the Global South. Nicolson reflects upon how lastyear, at the biannual conference of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom, an unconfirmed number ofdelegates were unable to attend due to visa refusals. Where a conference is hosted inevitably influences who canattend, and as such has implications for knowledge sharing and development: a pressing concern in a world ofincreasing walls. Nicolson importantly points out that while conferences are often labelled ‘international’ and ‘global’,the reality is that they often have a homogenising effect given that the intellectual environment within which they areheld largely celebrates Anglo-American, English-speaking academic culture.2/3The book notes that a key reason for people to go to conferences is to engage with colleagues in their field andestablish networks. As such, conferences can help prevent the isolation often associated with academia. In reality,however, conferences can themselves be potentially alienating, and such socialising may not come naturally toeveryone. This is particularly the case given the ambiguous nature of ‘professional socialisation’, whereby onepartakes in the awkward juggling act of grasping at something intelligent to say, while at the same time not toointelligent, lest you come across as if you aren’t a well-rounded person who has no interests beyond the article thatis currently keeping you up at night. This socialisation may be traditionally performed over the conference dinner, aseemingly cordial opportunity for delegates to make new acquaintances or catch up with colleagues. Some ofNicolson’s respondents reflected upon how the ‘real work’ at a conference happens at the bar (53). While this pointis not merely about enjoying an alcoholic beverage but rather the significance of face-to-face interaction, it againreflects the Eurocentric manner by which professional socialisation often takes place within academia. This is apoint that Nicolson unfortunately does not reflect upon, but which might have bearing for scholars who do not drinkalcohol for personal reasons or due to religious practices. Another limitation of the book, which the author dulyacknowledges, is that the research reported does not provide a representative sample of conferences orinterviewees.Nonetheless, while narrow in its scope, Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities represents the start of ameaningful conversation, and is highly recommended to anyone working within the social sciences who aspires tomake the most out of this unexplored yet integral part of performing and producing academia. The lingeringimpression for me is that while calls for abstracts at conferences often express ambitious aims and desires totransform the face of a field, there is little evidence that conferences in themselves have led to ground-breakingchange. Yet, as noted by Nicolson, the very notion of conferences having a measurable impact is in itself areflection of neoliberal thinking whereby everything has a cost and a value. The examples in the book highlight howthe impact of a conference need not be that it is paradigm-defining, but can be experienced at a personal level. Thismight just be through the strategic rationale of fluffing out one’s CV or through the way in which, if the conference isa good one, it could make the attendee feel excited and enthused about research, triggering new ideas. Whiledemonstrating that the individual gain of conferences fits with neoliberal ideology, there is room to explore howconferences could serve as spaces for collaboration, and indeed, for resistance of the same structures thatperpetuate their existence.Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani is in the third year of her PhD in Education at the University of Sussex. Her dissertationfocuses on the development of aspirations of young people living in post-apartheid South Africa. She has abackground in Social Anthropology from UCT (South Africa) and SOAS (London).Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of theLondon School of Economics. Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books3/3

Book review: academic conferences as neoliberal commodities by Donald J. Nicolson

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