This book explores the capacities and desires of academic women to reimagine and transform academic cultures. Embracing and championing feminist scholarship, the research presented by the authors in this collection holds space for a different way of being in academia and shifts the conversation toward a future that is hopeful, kind and inclusive. Through exploring lived experiences, building caring communities and enacting an ethics of care, the authors are reimagining the academy’s focus and purpose. The autoethnographic and arts-based research approaches employed throughout the book provide evocative conceptual content, which responds to the symbolic nature of transformation in the academy. This innovative volume will be of interest and value to feminist scholars, as well as those interested in disrupting and rejecting patriarchal academic structures.
Author(s): Alison L Black, Rachael Dwyer
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 433
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgement of Country
ShiFt
Core Themes
Theme I: Holding Space for Story, Struggle and Possibility
Theme II: Building Caring Communities and Enacting an Ethics of Care
Theme III: ShiFting, Renewing and Reimagining the Academy
Reimagine with Us
A Thank You to Reviewers
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Reimagining the Academy: Conceptual, Theoretical, Philosophical, and Methodological Sparks
Introduction
Not Afraid of the F-Word: Living Feminist Academic Lives
Reclaiming Care
Playing the Infinite Game
Slow Scholarship as Resistance to Fast Academia
Arts-Based and Autoethnographic Methods: Alternatives to the Masters’ Tools
Arts-Based Research
Autoethnography
Looking Ahead
References
Theme 1:: Holding Space for Story, Struggle and Possibility
Black Warrior Women Scholars Speak
Introduction
An Open Letter to White Women in the Academy
‘Mabokang
Tracey
Kathryn
‘Mabokang
Tracey
Kathryn
‘Mabokang
Tracey
‘Mabokang
Tracey
References
My Journey of a Thousand Miles
Introduction
Contextual Contradictions
The Pains and Gains of an Academic Journey
References
How Does a Woman Find Her Voice and Not Lose Her Soul in Academia?
References
Books
Theme 2:: Building Caring Communities and Enacting an Ethics of Care
Mentoring Beyond the Finite Games: Creating Time and Space for Connection, Collaboration and Friendship
Introduction
Mentoring Beginnings
What Are the Aims, Scope and Nature of Mentoring Relationships?
Belonging, Being and Becoming
Belonging
This Space by Vicki Schriever
Being
Becoming
Conclusion
References
A Collective Feminist Ethics of Care with Talanoa: Embodied Time in the ShiFting Spaces of Women’s Academic Work
Feminist Performances of Collective Self-Care
Our Story
Stories of Escaping the Workspace
Joanne’s Story
Katarina’s Story: I Am in the Afternoon of My (Life) Career
Other Ways of Being: An Ontology of Talanoa
Opening Circle: What Is Your Intent?
Joanne’s Story
Katarina’s Story
Realising the Ethics of Care Through the Body
Katarina’s Story
Joanne’s Story
Embodiment’s Connections to Timeless Time
Talanoa with Timeless Time
The Closing Circle—Has Your Intent Been Realised?
Joanne’s Story
Katarina’s Story
Telling Micro-Stories of Everyday Practice as a Collective Feminist Ethic of Care
References
Emotional Labour Pains: Rebirth of the Good Girl
Introduction
The Context for Care
Pedagogies of Care
Rule 1: Good Girls Listen
The Labour of Care
Rule 2: Good Girls Are Nice
Care for Others
Rule 3: Good Girls Are Obedient
Care for Self?
Who Cares Anyway?
Rewriting the Rules
Conclusion
Rule 1: Good Girls Listen—To Their Own Instincts
Rule 2: Good Girls Are Nice—To Themselves
Rule 3: Good Girls Are Obedient Respect Their Own Authority
References
More than Tolerance: A Call to ShiFt the Ableist Academy Towards Equity
Introduction
Looking Backward and Looking Forward. Concluding Thoughts
References
Arts-Based Reflection for Care of Self and Others in the Academy: A Collaged Rhizomatic Journey
Introduction
Collaborative Reflective Practice
Sharing Stories Through a Rhizomatic Lens
Lived Experiences Through Arts-Making
Belonging: Building Community
Being: Lived Visions
Becoming: Reimagining Futures
Concluding Thoughts
References
Slow Pedagogies and Care-Full, Deep Learning in Preservice Teacher Education
Slow Scholarship and Slow Pedagogy
Working Towards Slow Pedagogy in Teacher Education
‘ShiFting’ the Ending
Being Care-Full
Conclusion
References
Women Navigating the ‘Academic Olympics’: Achieving Activism Through Collaborative Autoethnography
Introduction
Method
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III
Episode IV
Concluding Thoughts
References
Envisioning Caring Communities in Initial Teacher Education
Introduction: A Feminist Ethic of Care
Our Context: Transactional Bodies
Care: A Precious Pedagogy?
Visions of Care
Identifying the Self
The Transactional Circumvented? Care Envisioned?
References
Writing, Playing, Transforming: A Collaborative Inquiry into Neoliberalism’s Effects on Academia, and the Scope for Changing the Game
Introduction
In/Finite Games in the Neoliberal Academy: Activism Through Creative Writing Research and Intersectional Analysis
The Inspiration Game: A Writing Activity Incorporating “Jenga”
“This Academic Body” by Nadine Levy
“The Machine” by Amelia Walker
Games as Metaphors for Academia and Normalisers of Injustice in Society Broadly
Excerpt from “Playing the ‘Game’ of Academia” by Corinna Di Niro
Excerpt from “Games” by Rebekah Clarkson
Excerpt from “Monopoly” by Elena Spasovska
“Mah Jong” by Yuwei Gou
Excerpt from “Never Have I Ever” by Chloe Cannell
Changing the Game? Concluding Thoughts
References
Theme 3:: ShiFting, Renewing and Reimagining the Academy
The In/Finite Game of Life: Playing in the Academy in the Face of Life and Death
Introduction
Approach
Helen’s Game: Fast Forward
Helen’s Reflection
Rachel’s Response
Rachel Invites Helen to Fast Forward! (Twenty Years Later)
Helen’s Reflection
Rachel’s Game: Genre Replay
Rachel’s Reflection
Helen’s Response
Helen Invites Rachel to Replay! (in the Style of a Reality Home Renovation Show)
Rachel’s Reflection
Making Sense of our Game Play
(In)Conclusion
References
Beyond Survival: The ShiFt to Aesthetic Writing
Introduction
Our Context: The Neoliberal University and Conferences
Resistance
Collaborative Poetry and Miksang Photography
Arriving in Hiroshima
Into Conference-Mode
ShiFting Thoughts
References
The Gift of Wit(h)nessing Transitional Moments Through a Contemplative Arts Co-inquiry
Embodying Wit(h)nessing Practice
Threads of Our Colleagues in Our Co-inquiry
What Is the Gift Created by Our Stitching?
References
Remaking Academic Garments
Introduction
A Long Line of Strong, Feisty and Inspirational Women (Catherine)
My Academic Work Has Been Interrupted (Agnes)
Neoliberal Conditions and the Necessity for Freedom to Remake Academic Garments
Slow Tiny Acts of Resistance (STARs): Playing the Infinite Game
Conditions for Radical Hope
Conclusion
References
Canon, Legacy or Imprint: A Feminist Reframing of Intellectual Contribution
Introduction
Canon, Legacy and Imprint
ShiFting Practices: Imprint as Being-in-Relation
Conclusion and a Path Forward
Being-in-Relation to Other Scholarship
Being-in-Relation to Other Scholars
Being-in-Relation to Neoliberal Institutions
References
Beyond Shame and Pride: The University as a Game of Love
How Capitalism Absorbs Critiques
Shame and Pride in Finite Games
Stepping Away
The Infinite Game of the University
How I’ve Tried to Play the University in Love
Staying True to Love
References
Afterword
A Call to Hope, a Call to Action
Index
