Nov 22 2010

The University Debate

Category: Journals — Bob Hanke @ 11:18 am
Culture Machine invites its readers to join the debate called for by Nick Couldry and Angela McRobbie in their short article ‘The Death of the University, English Style’ – now available in the Culture Machine InterZone:
We are seeking contributions in the form of short think pieces, or micro-essays, of
500-1000 words on any aspect of:
– the future of higher education in England and the UK;
– the position of the arts, humanities and social sciences within the university;
– the role and nature of the university in a democratic society.
Please email all contributions to Gary Hall at <gary@garyhall.info>, remembering to include your full name and academic affiliation (if any). If, for institutional or other reasons, you would prefer to have your piece published anonymously, we would be happy to accommodate this.
All contributions will be reviewed by the Editorial Board on a rolling basis, with those accepted for publication being made immediately available on the Culture Machine site.
Eight new contributions have just been added to the Culture Machine InterZone section:
* ‘Cut the Shock Doctrine: Radicalize Common Sense’ by Paul Bowman, Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
* ‘Amidst the Culture of Efficiency’ by Sunil Manghani, Critical and Cultural Theory , York St John University
* ‘On the “Death” of the University’ by Jason Rovito, Communication and Culture, York and Ryerson Universities
* ‘Education, Education, Education’ by Ewa Sidorenko, Education, University of Greenwich
* ‘Diversity and Choice’ by Leon Wainwright, History of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
* ‘Public Values, Higher Education and the Scourge of Neoliberalism: Politics at the Limits of the Social’ by Henry A. Giroux, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
* ‘Our Miners’ Moment: The Battle to Save Higher Education for Working-Class Students Amidst the Culture of Efficiency’ by Alex Lockwood, Journalism, University of Sunderland
* ‘Of Science and Souls’ by Keyan Tomaselli, Communication, Media and Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal
To read the pieces, visit the Culture Machine InterZone:

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Sep 08 2010

The Remains of the University

Category: Events — Bob Hanke @ 6:42 pm

The Remains of the University: Thoughts on the Future of Critical Theory and the Humanities

Culture Speak Speakers Series 2010/11 – Inaugural Panel

Jackman Humanities Building
170 St. George St. Room 100A
Thursday, December 9, 2010 4:00pm to 6:30pm

Convened by Ricky Varghese & Christopher Smith

Culture Speak is a series of moments, brought about by a set of provocations. Informed by the generative insights that have emanated from or about the space of critical theory and the field of cultural studies, these sessions seek to provide an opportunity for scholars at various levels in their professional life to engage in focused conversations about pressing themes within the realms of media, culture and politics.

To set the tone for what will be a stellar set of sessions in the coming year, we shall begin with a panel discussing the precarious state of the Humanities at University of Toronto and abroad. This panel, following an informal and conversational style, as convened by Christopher Smith and Ricky Varghese will address a wide-spanning set of concerns that those of us engaged within critical theory have to face in regards to the future of critical thought on the contemporary university campus. One of the aims, among many others, might be to gain insight into how we might situate rigorous theoretical work within the present university space, while maintaining an ongoing commitment to building upon the continued need for socio-political, economic, and historical critique within the various intellectual communities that we find ourselves to be in.

Moderated by Roger Simon Professor Emeritus, Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, OISE/University of Toronto

Rinaldo Walcott, Associate Professor, Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, OISE/University of Toronto

Megan Boler Associate Professor, History & Philosophy of Education, OISE/University of Toronto

Ken Kawashima Associate Professor, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Tanya Titchkosky Associate Professor, Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, OISE/University of Toronto

Eric Cazdyn, Associate Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature and East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Paul Hamel, Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Director of Health Studies, University of Toronto

This event is wheel-chair accessible.

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May 13 2010

Mute Says, “Don’t Panic, Organise!”

Category: News,Online Publication — Bob Hanke @ 10:22 am

Mute Special on Struggle in Education Today: ‘Don’t Panic, Organise!’

(excerpted from Mute, May 4, 2010).

The cuts, lay-offs and tuition-fee hikes that are besetting higher and further education internationally are naturally a direct response to the drama of the financial crisis and its ricocheting bomb of personal, commercial and national debt. But they also have deeper roots. They should be understood as part of the more gradual process of what George Caffentzis, in his analysis of the international situation, calls the ‘breakdown of the edu-deal’; the inability for capital, and therefore the state, to pay for the costs of producing a well educated workforce or to guarantee that investment in education will result in a more vigorous economy and increased living standards for those with qualifications.

This breakdown, and the dogmatism of free market economics which seeks to alleviate it, has seen the imposition of a business rationale onto what previously had been regarded as the provision of a public service, sometimes even a public good. From the investment of endowment funds on the market, to the conversion of students into (badly ripped off) consumers, to the no-frills fixed-term contracts being doled out to staff, to the speculative purchase of the future IP generated by scientific and technical departments, to the intended exchangeability of all qualifications under the Bologna Process, education has been infested by the value form.

With the ground changing this fast under staff and students’ feet, the ability for collective action to fight the savage rounds of cuts has itself suffered as a result of a generalised precarity and fragmentation. Despite the hostile conditions, we are nevertheless seeing an intermittent but persistent wave of strikes, actions and occupations, both wildcat and union co-ordinated, breaking out around the world. Other initiatives such as cross-institutional teach-ins, blogs, power-mapping exercises, conferences and demonstrations are also creating a steady hum of background pressure and preparation. All of this begs the question, will it be enough to save any residual quality and equality within education and its institutions? With the state of struggle in education our principal question, Mute has created a mini-dossier of reports, questionnaires and analyses on the education crisis as it unfolds in the UK and beyond.

Table of Contents

University Struggles at the End of the Edu-Deal by George Caffentzis
‘Dignity at Work and Study’, or: Oxymoron 101 Mute talks to a Unison Rep and employee at a London University institution
Painting the Glass House Black Evan Calder Williams on struggles at the University of California
Struggle as a Second Language Two of the organisers of last year’s Tower Hamlets College strike assess the successes and failures of the campaign
Grim Down South: Managing (in) London South Bank University by Raoul Paled
We Don’t Need No Education? The Case of the London Met Mute speaks to an anonymous member of staff about responses to the recent blood-letting

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May 10 2010

CUPE National Report: Have U, Have Not U

Category: Online Publication,Research,University Finance — Bob Hanke @ 4:39 pm

Have U, Have Not U
(excerpted from CUPE National, May 6, 2010)

In September 2009, five Canadian universities proposed to change the way our Post Secondary Education system is organized and funded in Canada. The University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Toronto, McGill University and the Université de Montréal, now known as the “BIG 5”, proposed the division of our current public system where universities would become either a research intensive or a teaching institution and would specialize in either graduate or undergraduate education. Federal funds would be differentially allocated according to the financial needs of the few universities who “specialize” in research and graduate teaching, and all others who specialize in teaching and undergraduate education. They claim this proposal to be in the interest of “world class” research, innovation and global competitiveness.

The BIG 5 proposal is a response to this funding crisis that signals to us that our academic institutions are beginning to engage in a battle amongst themselves for scarce resources and proper funding.

To read the complete report, click here.

For companion reading, see The Rise of  Network Universities: Higher Education in the Knowledge Economy by John Pruett and Nick Schwellenbach.

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Mar 11 2010

System Crash: Risk, Crisis, Literature

Category: Conferences — Bob Hanke @ 11:44 am

Call for Papers

System Crash: Risk, Crisis, Literature

2010 SFU English Graduate Student Critical & Creative Conference
Simon Fraser University: (Thursday June 10th – Saturday, June 12th)
Submission deadline:  March 15th

We are surrounded by the language of crisis: financial meltdown (economic systems), environmental catastrophe (ecological systems), terrorist attack (nation-state systems). These crises permeate our discourses of global, regional, institutional, and personal experience. The university is no exception; it too faces crises of disintegrating disciplinary boundaries, collapsing departments, reduced funding, and radical shifts from textual to visual culture. Despite the material (and discursive) specificities of these recent crises, the language of crisis and concomitant sense of immediacy are nothing new; authors, theorists, cultural producers, and readers have always struggled with the crises of their times. Some attempt to contain crisis, while others attempt to incite it; all make reference the fragility of socio-economic, socio-political and ecological systems that are precarious by their very nature. The 2010 SFU English Graduate Student conference asks the question of how literature and culture engage with crisis now. Thematic streams and suggested panels include: Neo-liberalism and the University, Canadian Literature and Borders, Historical Representations of Crises, Subject Matters, Crises of Form. We welcome submissions on these or on related topics addressed in the questions/keywords below:

KEYWORDS: etymology and history of the crisis – economic history – medium/form/genre – language/linguistics – media and technology – mimesis – copyright – property (private and public) – capitalism – the culture industry – the body – food and food production – sustainable development – consumption – faith/belief – subjectivity – neoliberalism – the nation-state – citizenship – immigration – borders – disciplines/divisions/departments – education.

QUESTIONS: What is the history of crisis? How has crisis been represented? What were/are the mediums, forms, and genres used to represent crisis? How has technology altered form, content, and subjective experience? How has capitalism altered our understanding of the subject and its body? How is the body consumed and commodified? How are geo-political borders, crossings and exiles represented in literature, art or film?

The 2010 SFU English Graduate Student conference is pleased to present two events designed to inform, compliment and expand upon the formal panels of Friday and Saturday. The first encourages creative submissions that deal with the art(s) of crisis and the second is an activist plenary (Saturday, June 12th) that will explore possibilities of social activism in the university. Below is an outline and prompt for creative submissions:

Creative Presentations, Discussions and Investigations: Friday, June 11th:
Reading, rousing, and responding to categorical crises, creative texts may incorporate any or all of the above critical classifications. Conversely, submissions to our creative cluster may seek to challenge or disrupt whatever is holding these theories in place—stirring textual crises that tremble from the level of the word and shake loose the binds of social order. Writers should consider: how do we write “going wrong”? And more importantly, why do we try?

The 2010 SFU Graduate conference is also pleased to announce this year’s Keynote speaker, Dr. Marc Bousquet, author of How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low Wage-Nation (2008). Dr Bousquet will be speaking during the first day of the conference, Thursday June 10th.

Proposals for complete panels are encouraged.

Please submit a 300 – 400 word abstract by MARCH 15, 2010 to gradconf@sfu.ca

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