On the (im)possibilities of being a good enough researcher at a neoliberal university

Abstract

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Embodied Listening

“…We also noted our own unpreparedness for some of these reactions and our own exhaustion during the pandemic, exacerbated by expectations of our neoliberal universities (e.g. Zielke et al 2022). The emotions of returning to in-person learning, the elation of seeing friends and the profound sense of loss due to the pandemic, and the ongoing precarity and/or heavy workloads taken on beyond the classroom were overwhelming for some students to manage and process.…”

“…The work of embodied listening contributes to feminist and other critical pedagogical work within geography and cognate disciplines towards the interruption of ongoing social injustices and oppressions within higher education (Alderman et al 2021;Freire 1993Freire [1970hooks 1994;Puāwai Collective 2019;Rice et al 2021;University of Kentucky Critical Pedagogy Working Group 2015;Wood et al 2020), specifically neoliberal processes that transform the pace and tenor of our everyday work in academia and university settings (e.g. Horton 2020; Mountz et al 2015;Shahjahan 2020;Zielke et al 2022). Critical and feminist pedagogies highlight how dominant approaches to classroom participation produce hierarchies and suppress feminized and other non-normative ways of engaging and producing knowledges (see McMurtie 2022).…”

Negotiating structural barriers to environmental collaborations in doctoral programmes

“…The continuation of a collaborative research project after the period of funding ends is a significant challenge for all researchers, including doctoral students and is shaped by sectoral precarity and resourcing norms (Zielke et al., 2023). Given the especially precarious position of doctoral students (Butler‐Rees & Robinson, 2020), there is often a need to prioritise securing employment, which is potentially unrelated to their environmental collaborations or entirely outside of the academy, as funded programmes come to an end.…”

“…The problem of how to integrate additional forms of academic ‘best practice’ (such as working collaboratively across disciplines or with external partners) into the policies, procedures and teaching practices of UK Higher Education (HE) is not new (Bhakta et al., 2015; Harris et al., 2009; Macmillan & Scott, 2003). There has been significant criticism in the geography literature of the neoliberal institutional conditions in which these new ways of researching are practiced and the consequences of this for our ethical responsibilities to external partners and the framing of knowledge creation (Mistry et al., 2009; Pusey, 2017; Wainwright et al., 2014; Zielke et al., 2023). Here, the authors use the term ‘neoliberal university’ to refer to the policies of competition and choice that have resulted in a quasi‐market, where academic institutions that resemble businesses compete for research funding and students act as consumers (Ball, 2012).…”

(De)humanization in the business school: Critical reflection on doctoral experiences

“…We grapple with the challenges of carrying out research that is "good enough," in an environment where we have little sense of work-life balance. While there are possibilities for micro-resistance, we long for stronger reform (Zielke et al, 2023). There is decreasing legitimacy and symbolic capital (see Bourdieu, 1986) for academics in a country like the United Kingdom where politicians have claimed there is no more need for "experts" (Mance, 2016) and designated some degrees as "low-value" (Adams and Allegretti, 2023).…”