Abstract
This article seeks to envision a mode of university governance that takes us beyond a neoliberal audit culture and its affective organisation of academic life. It takes up this task by probing the potentials of transforming the ‘impact agenda’ (i.e., the trend towards audit systems and funding mechanisms that assess academics on the basis of their non-academic research impact). Grounded in an ethnography of a UK university, and informed by a Spinozist ethics of joy, the article draws attention to an alternative conception of subjectivity to that which the impact agenda propagates, one that is conceived in terms of collective creativity and which breaks with the neoliberal notion of the competitive individual. I argue this understanding of subjectivity points to a threshold where the impact agenda can become something else. More specifically, drawing inspiration from the idea of ‘collective joy’, I map an alternative that is centred on the goal of enhancing academics’ and non-academics’ capacity for collective creativity. What is at stake in making this conversion is moving from a mode of governance that is debilitating to one that is empowering.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
