The embodied, entangled self and complicity in the neoliberal academy

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The embodied, entangled self and complicity in the neoliberal academy
Authors: Barthwal-Datta, M
Source: International Politics. 62:753-756
Publisher Information: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Subject Terms: anzsrc-for: 44 Human Society, 4407 Policy and Administration, 4408 Political Science, anzsrc-for: 1605 Policy and Administration, anzsrc-for: 4407 Policy and Administration, anzsrc-for: 1606 Political Science, 44 Human Society, anzsrc-for: 4408 Political Science
Description: In The Self, and Other Stories: Being, Knowing, Writing, Laura Shepherd illuminates the embodied and entangled nature of knowing the self, and the self as a ‘knowing subject’ in the neoliberal, violent, and exclusionary academy. Here, I explore some of the ways in which such embodiment and entanglements of the self in the academy are made (in)visible in and through the stories and storytelling in Laura’s book. I focus particularly on Laura’s recounting of her complicity with the institution, for instance through her internalization of the individualized responsibility for ‘success’ in the neoliberal academy towards hyper-productivity, and her embodying and enacting of the ‘serious’ ‘knowing’ subject in academia. Noting the significance of such stories for the demystification of ‘success’ as an academic, and the cost such success may extract from the self, I consider how there is still room left to reflect on the implications of such complicity by relatively privileged bodies, for those bodies positioned differently and differentially in the neoliberal university.
Document Type: Article
File Description: application/pdf
Language: English
ISSN: 1740-3898
1384-5748
DOI: 10.1057/s41311-025-00669-x
Rights: CC BY
Accession Number: edsair.doi.dedup.....3998885b8f3d0793d28f420a5d81749c
Database: OpenAIRE
Description
Abstract:In The Self, and Other Stories: Being, Knowing, Writing, Laura Shepherd illuminates the embodied and entangled nature of knowing the self, and the self as a ‘knowing subject’ in the neoliberal, violent, and exclusionary academy. Here, I explore some of the ways in which such embodiment and entanglements of the self in the academy are made (in)visible in and through the stories and storytelling in Laura’s book. I focus particularly on Laura’s recounting of her complicity with the institution, for instance through her internalization of the individualized responsibility for ‘success’ in the neoliberal academy towards hyper-productivity, and her embodying and enacting of the ‘serious’ ‘knowing’ subject in academia. Noting the significance of such stories for the demystification of ‘success’ as an academic, and the cost such success may extract from the self, I consider how there is still room left to reflect on the implications of such complicity by relatively privileged bodies, for those bodies positioned differently and differentially in the neoliberal university.
ISSN:17403898
13845748
DOI:10.1057/s41311-025-00669-x