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Performance Management in the African University as Panopticism

Embedding Prison-Like Conditions

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Knowledge and Change in African Universities

Abstract

As an academic, I have felt the brunt of the control of performance management, being privy to performance contracts that have become more stringent and subject to more scrutiny. On this basis, I am inclined to conclude that performance management is a subtle, coercive power tactic. I agree with Ball (2015) that with performance management’s reliance on quantitative measurement, “we are reduced by it to a category or quotient—our worth, our humanity and our complexity are abridged” (p. 5).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Johannesburg, South Africa

    Sadi Mokhaneli Seyama

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  1. Sadi Mokhaneli Seyama
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Johannesburg, South Africa

    Michael Cross

  2. University of Johannesburg, South Africa

    Amasa Ndofirepi

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Seyama, S.M. (2017). Performance Management in the African University as Panopticism. In: Cross, M., Ndofirepi, A. (eds) Knowledge and Change in African Universities. African Higher Education: Developments and Perspectives. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-845-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-845-7_9

  • Publisher Name: SensePublishers, Rotterdam

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-6300-845-7

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