Abstract
Much has been written about the inscription of neoliberalism into higher education. Replying to how neoliberalism is constructed within the academy, this chapter explores emancipatory imaginaries that provide metaphorical space and time for scholars to experience fun, creativity, the beauty of nature, and a slowing of time, among other pleasures of scholarship. In these theoretical spaces, professional responsibility is forged. Praxis is unique to each professor’s and student’s lifeworld. Theories of knowledge construction that begin with critical thinking and explore postmodern concepts such as “situated knowledges” can be exciting for those who experience them for the first time. Environmental responsibility can be inspired by the reading of texts or visits by activists that bring together activism for equity and environmentalism. Most uplifting is the political will that develops with the engagement of contemporary theorists turning the gaze towards the decolonization of Eurocentric, and recognition of Indigenous, knowledges. Examples here provide a glimpse of how everyday activism is sparked by social theory and how engagement with social theory can infuse hope and well-being. We can take strength from scholarly work through engaging with the beauty of the physical and scholarly world, and connecting with intellectual role models and their imaginaries that promote a myriad of enchanting ways to proceed with one’s own lifework. Equity imaginaries resonate with theories of education that promote engagement or caring, everyday/everynight attention to power relations and ethical praxis. They turn away from the monoculture of neoliberalism and maintain long term health, well-being, and hope in the academy.
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Notes
- 1.
PSEL is particularly gratefully engaged after students have been subjected to the imaginary of Foucault’s panopticon of the “gaze” that disciplines through the self (Foucault 1977).
- 2.
Another theoretical body of work that stimulates desperation among many who engage it is Baudrillard’s (1981) theorizing about the “desert of the real,” simulacra (fake news?) and media-invoked hyperreality. Weber paints a depressing picture of how the Protestant work ethic would fuel the excesses of capitalism in his writing, but he also offers upbeat imaginaries such as ideologies promoted by charismatic leaders and an argument for science as a vocation. Marx’s vastly influential conception of capitalist society can also be read gloomily, but his writing engages ethically with the economists of his day and is also the source of emancipatory concepts such as agency and praxis.
- 3.
This is playful but not trivial: social theory with which we can personally identify is powerful, engaging, exciting and inspirational in thinking and bringing to fruition future possibilities. The social theory of many god-tricking white guys is still important, but it is highly desirable to occasionally put Weber, Baudrillard, and even Marx into footnotes.
- 4.
Indigenous knowledges (IK) cannot be essentialized. Each nation has cultural knowledge unique to its space on earth. Marie Battiste explains: “All around the surface of the earth, Indigenous peoples live in communities where they acquire, develop and sustain relationships with each other and with their environments. By building relationships with the land and its inhabitants, they come to understand the forces around them. Each generation then passes their knowledge of the social and cultural contexts of their ecological origins to succeeding generations. They transmit their knowledge through their languages and through many diverse ceremonies and traditions. These cultural forms are the fundamental sources of Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is not a peculiar subset of knowledge but a diverse array of knowledges that are distinctive to different peoples and to their varied environments. It is everywhere, and it emanates in many diverse cultural forms throughout the world” (Battiste in Tripp and Muzzin 2005 p. 122).
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Muzzin, L. (2019). The Enchantment of Social Theory: Engaging Equity Imaginaries in the Neoliberal Academy. In: Gibbs, P., Peterson, A. (eds) Higher Education and Hope. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13566-9_8
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