In Search of Activism, Feminism, and Life in the Neoliberal University.

Review of: Bowles, Kate, Agnes Bosanquet & Karina Luzia, Eds. 2017 Activism and the Academy. Special Issue of Australian Universities’ Review 59.2. Pereira, Maria Do Mar. 2017. Power, Knowledge and Feminist Scholarship: An Ethnography of Academia. Abingdon: Routledge.
There are now bookshelves filled with critical analyses of the fallout of free-market neoliberal corporate culture as it is being played out in universities. As (former) public institutions of education and knowledge production plunge into branding competitions, tables of top 100s, quantitative measuring of impact and funding income and student numbers, our understanding of the university is thrown into turmoil as are the working lives of those who struggle with these new meanings of the tertiary education sector. The texts collected here to review are part of a genre that critique the politics of a neoliberal education, reflect on life in the university, and strategise ways of maintaining ethical and professional values in university work. It’s not coincidental that many of them are informed by feminist politics.