Hoping that everyone will excuse the self-promotion – I wrote this
http://www.sustainingtime.org/home/the-slow-university-and-a-collective-politics-of-time after attending one of the Slow University events in Durham last year. I do think challenging the time of academia is very important, but I find that slow is often
justified because it potentially allows us to work better or do more. In the blog post I suggest that Sarah Sharma’s work in a collective ethics around time might be more helpful. Something that is also brought up in the Mountz et al. paper..
Best wishes,
Michelle
--
Dr Michelle Bastian
Chancellor’s Fellow, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
Level 1, Room 303B The Maltings
20-22 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JZ
Phone: +44 (0)131 651 5779
Email:
[log in to unmask]
Website:
www.michellebastian.net
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Jennifer Casolo
Sent: 30 October 2015 12:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sadness
And here is the excellent collective work of feminist geographers Alison Mountz, Anne Bonds, Becky Mansfield, Jenna Loyd, Jennifer Hyndman and Margaret Walton Roberts
on slow scholarship:
Clearly we must continue to organize for slow scholarship and the slow university.
Jennifer
On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 5:16 AM, Christian Abrahamsson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Here is a lecture by the historian and philospher of science Isabelle Stengers on the idea and practice of slow science. Well worth watching in this context.
/Christian
2015-10-30 12:01 GMT+01:00 Aaron Vansintjan <[log in to unmask]>:
Hi all,
While reading these comments I was reminded of an excellent article addressing with some of the same problems from a U.S. perspective: https://www.academia.edu/12192676/For_Slow_Scholarship_A_Feminist_Politics_of_Resistance_through_Collective_Action_in_the_Neoliberal_University
A bunch of feminist academics got together and tried to figure out ways to collectively resist the work pressure and managerial power in their institutions. They call for collective action against the neoliberal university, through
politics of care and solidarity. Amongst other proposals, they proposed creating spaces for academics to support each other, struggle against the quantization of academic work, and... writing less emails and actively creating time to think. The whole piece
is really worth a read.
Aaron
Phd, Birkbeck
On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 10:18 AM, Andrew Law <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
By independent scholarship - I am using the phrase to work outside of academia whilst conducting serious academic work!!!!
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andrew Law
>Sent: 30 October 2015 10:16
>To: 'Jenny Pickerill' <[log in to unmask]>; CRIT-GEOG-
>[log in to unmask]
>Subject: RE: Sadness
>
>Hi All
>
>I am energised by this list and I am delighted to see so many people reacting
>to this particular kind of "brave new academic world";
>
>What worries me the most is that management in many institutions seem to
>be creating a "culture of fear" as an actual management strategy...
>
>Of course, I just cannot see the point in making people afraid to get them to
>work... I often hear people constantly talking about the fear of getting caught
>out by the REF; and I have also heard people talk about the fear of having to
>cobble papers together at the last minute in the hope that some "4* journal"
>is going to accept your paper...
>
>I worry that this new management culture will lead lots of people towards
>independent scholarship, which is not a bad thing in one way, but is in itself an
>indictment of the whole academic system.
>
>In solidarity
>
>Andy
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:CRIT-GEOG-
>>[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jenny Pickerill
>>Sent: 30 October 2015 09:18
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: Sadness
>>
>>Hi all
>>
>>I am finding this conversation really helpful. I too was greatly
>>affected by Stefan's story and I suspect that it is just one publicised
>>case of many.
>>
>>There is an interesting parallel conversation going on in Canada. Run
>>out of Queens, the MHGEOG-L Mental Health and the Academy email
>>discussion list is a useful place of sharing, often research and case
>>studies. You can subscribe via:
>>https://lists.queensu.ca/cgi-bin/listserv/wa?A0=MHGEOG-L
>>
>>I also support the Union because I feel it is a rare space where
>>collective issues are fought for, despite all its limitations.
>>
>>But crucially, like others, I have found the only form of survival to be
>>through collective companionship in the academy. Going to lunch with
>>colleagues might seem a small step, but being able to share
>>frustrations, laugh at the stupidity of targets, and remind each other
>>why we work in the academy has enable me to stay. There are many of us
>>who have never met our performance targets (I have lived through years
>>of them and consistently failed) and yet are still here and doing OK. As
>>things become more acute and pressured, we should spend even more time
>>supporting each other, laughing, resisting, and ignoring. I, for one, am
>>not willing to let targets push me out of the academy. But without
>>academic friends I lapse into a competitive urge to comply and need my
>>friends to remind me why I am here and what I (not the University) am
>>trying to do.
>>
>>Jenny
>>
>>-------------------------------
>>Jenny Pickerill
>>
>>Professor of Environmental Geography
>>
>>Department of Geography
>>University of Sheffield
>>Winter street
>>Sheffield
>>S10 2TN
>>UK
>>
>>email: [log in to unmask]
>>office phone: 0114 222 7960
>>
>>staff website:
www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/staff/jenny_pickerill
>>web: www.jennypickerill.info
>>
>>blog: http://naturalbuild.wordpress.com/
>>twitter: @JennyPickerill
>>
>>Editor | Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
>>http://antipodefoundation.org/
>>http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/anti
>>
>>Chair | Participatory Geographies Research Group
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk
>>
>>New article: Pickerill, J (2014) Bodies, building and bricks: Women
>>architects and builders in eight eco-communities in Argentina, Britain,
>>Spain, Thailand and USA. Gender, Place and Culture, available at:
>>http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UPix9KpJRxPWjkWvvntE/full
>>
>>On 30/10/2015 09:00, Paul Benneworth wrote:
>>> Dear all
>>>
>>> I was greatly affected by the Stefan Grimm story when I read it, and so
>>many thanks to Andrew for unleashing a discussion that's attracted real
>animo
>>in the group.
>>>
>>> Echoing Alison's point, I was at a union meeting this week where we heard
>>of both the real damaging effects of work pressure, and also the roles of
>>managers (who don't face those pressures) saying that people were very
>>good at coping with those pressures. There's so much evidence piling up of
>>the extremely negative effects that these new target management regimes
>>have on people; for me what has been compelling has been the way that
>they
>>are 'made' and enforced locally, despite this rhetoric that they are a
>>supposedly unavoidable part of academic life.
>>>
>>> My concrete contribution I hope relates to the issue of performance
>targets;
>>performance is what you do, not the outcome that it has; the issue about
>>trying to management outcome targets is that if there aren't good pathways
>>from the performance to the target then you what you are doing is futile.
>>>
>>> what Alison describes below at Newcastle are a mix of performance and
>>outcome targets. And what's most worrying are the outcome (income)
>>targets, because we know that success rates for funding proposals have hit a
>>real low in all sectors, to the point where it has become more a lottery; so
>you
>>can 'perform' by writing a good proposal but that becomes completely
>>invisible to the managers because you are judged on an outcome on which
>>you have no influence.
>>>
>>> And like all indicators, the have a framing effect; for me what is worrying is
>>the way that they purport to have an objectivity; if you don't hit an outcome
>>target, then the responsibility passes to you rather than to the person who
>>set the ill thought-through target for you. So what you are really being
>judged
>>on is how lucky you are, not how well you are performing (assuming you are
>>good enough), and that's a rather pernicious basis for managing an
>institution,
>>because you have people who think they are good or bad purely on the
>basis
>>of their luck, and luck can run out.
>>>
>>> You can say that it's individuals' own faults for not being in a field where
>the
>>chances of success are higher, but given how long human capital in academia
>>takes to build up and the proven fact that seemingly pointless knowledge
>can
>>entirely unexpectedly become incredibly useful - scientifically and societally -
>>that's a just a strange basis to run a knowledge portfolio.
>>>
>>> In my reading, the only way that this can be challenged is by speaking up
>for
>>each other, and in particular the lucky ones speaking up for the unlucky
>ones,
>>here in the Netherlands, the more popular courses speaking up for the less
>>popular courses, the seniors speaking up for the juniors.
>>>
>>> Solidarity, in short, and that's a real challenge at the time when everything,
>>tenure track, publish or perish, h-indices, journal ranking lists, is being set up
>>to individualise, and critically to convince the lucky seniors that they are
>>successful because they are better than the unlucky juniors. So in that
>sense
>>it's great to hear the 'seniors' speaking up for the collective in this
>>conversation as well as the 'juniors'.
>>>
>>> There's a few movements like Science in Transition that can help to do this,
>>but Alison nails the point here that the unions are organisations that actually
>>exist to build this solidarity, even if they have sometimes become
>sidetracked
>>for entirely understandable reasons into thinking more of the 'individual
>>member offer' than the 'collective vision and movement'.
>>>
>>> And of course unions aren't 'out there', they are their members, so at least
>>in the UK, and the Netherlands (two countries that I at least know about)
>this
>>suggests at least one starting point for us in starting to challenge and contest
>>these problems.
>>>
>>> So strength to Alison, and all those affected!
>>>
>>> Best wishes
>>> Paul.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:CRIT-GEOG-
>>[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alison Stenning
>>> Sent: vrijdag 30 oktober 2015 9:29
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: Sadness
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> In the light of all this, I'd be really interested to hear what colleagues'
>>experiences, in the UK and beyond, have been of "performance
>>expectations", or indicators, or whatever.
>>>
>>> Here at Newcastle, the university is in the process of introducing these,
>first
>>for research, then for teaching. The research ones relate to income,
>>publications, supervision of PhD students. Income expectations vary by
>>seniority and according to two tiers of disciplines (high income and low
>>income). Geography is a high income discipline within our faculty (of
>>humanities and social sciences).
>>>
>>> These "expectations" will be used in assessing performance (though
>>performance and development reviews), promotion and recruitment of new
>>staff.
>>>
>>> It's not yet entirely clear what will happen if we don't meet the
>>expectations.
>>>
>>> All of this makes me incredibly sad, that this is more and more the shape of
>>universities, that these are the wishes of our managers, that there is so little
>>imagination about what a university could be, despite wider
>>neoliberalisations, that this reinforces a culture of expectation and anxiety,
>>and so on.
>>>
>>> More hopefully, there was a really well attended union meeting earlier this
>>week, where there were discussions of strike action, a vote of no confidence
>>in the VC, and other plans for non-compliance.
>>>
>>> It would be really good to hear how others are dealing with this kind of
>>thing, and how widespread these kind of formal expectations are across
>>Geography.
>>>
>>> In solidarity,
>>> Alison
>>>
--
Christian Abrahamsson
Lecturer
Department of Sociology and Human Geography
University of Oslo
P.O box 1096 Blindern 0317 OSLO Norway
https://uio.academia.edu/ChristianAbrahamsson
Review Editor
Geografiska Annaler: Series B Human Geography
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291468-0467