new ephemera issue on free work released
http://www.ephemerajournal.org
The relationship between freedom and work is a complex one. For
some, they are considered opposites: ‘true’ freedom is possible only
once the necessity of work is removed, and a life of luxury
attained. For others, work itself provides an opportunity to achieve
a sense of freedom and authenticity. In recent years for example,
advances in human resource management have promoted hard work, a
deep sense of commitment to one’s job, and the acceptance of working
conditions that are ostensibly exploitative, as offering the promise
of freedom. Recent corporate and entrepreneurial celebrations of
playfulness also provide examples of the deep entanglement of
contemporary forms of knowledge work with ideals of freedom.
In this issue of ephemera, our contributors inquire into the
relation between freedom and work. They ask, for example, whether it
is even possible to free oneself from ideals of freedom? Or is the
fantasy of an imagined place of freedom, the utopia in which no work
taints our lives, simply too prevalent? It may be the case that in
contemporary life, we fool ourselves yet further when we ask for
freedom within our working life. But can we free ourselves from the
very prospect of freedom?
This issue is also available in print, produced in cooperation with
MayFly Books.
From now on, all issues of ephemera will be available in print,
produced in cooperation with MayFly Books. [Please note that vol.
12, no. 1/2 is already available to buy here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906948151.]
CONTENTS
editorial: Free work - Armin Beverungen Birke Otto Sverre Spoelstra
Kate Kenny
Roundtable: Free work- Jana Costas Susanne Ekman Christian
Maravelias Sverre Spoelstra
Articles
Work experience without qualities? A documentary and critical
account of an internship - Joanna Figiel
Migrant self-employment between precariousness and self-exploitation
- Antonie Schmiz
‘And if I don’t want to work like an artist...?’ How the study of
artistic resistance enriches organizational studies - Brigitte
Biehl-Missal
Locating work in Santiago Sierra’s artistic practice - Andrés
Montenegro
Materiality at work: A note on desks - Lisa Conrad Nancy Richter
Working through the allotment - Abigail Schoneboom Julian May
FUL’s free work - Committee – The Free University of Liverpool
Fate work: A conversation - Valentina Desideri Stefano Harney
reviews
Control and becoming in the neoliberal teaching machine - Amit S.
Rai
Having knowledge: How handbooks are shaping the way we think and
work - Helen Nicholson
The history of philosophy – an obituary? - Stephen Dunne
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You can also now follow us on Twitter: @EphemeraJournal.
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