Transcript boundaries

KNOWLEDGE
INSTITUTIONS
GENDER
:
an east-west comparative study
MODES OF ORDERING AND BOUNDARIES WHICH
MATTER IN ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
Ulrike Felt, Tereza Stöckelová
With contribution of Lisa Garforth, Magdalena Gorska, Luba
Koba, Morgan Meyer, Seppo Poutanen, Mariana Szapuova,
Veronika Wöhrer
Orders, audits, classifications, boundaries
•
The image of seamless, universal science vs. boundaries within science
•
Proliferation of policy ordering of academia
Power, Micheal. 1997. The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Strathern, Marylin (ed.). 2000. Audit cultures: Anthropological studies in
accountability, ethics and the academy. London and NY: Routledge.
“A key characteristic of neoliberal governance is that it relies on more indirect forms
of intervention and control. In particular, it seeks to act on and through the agency,
interests, desires and motivations of individuals, encouraging them to see
themselves as active subjects responsible for improving their own conduct. By
internalizing the external norms of management, ‘flexibilized workers’ transform
themselves into governable subjects of managerial power and control.“
Shore, Cris. 2008. “Audit culture and illiberal governance: Universities and the
politics of accountability.” Anthropological Theory, 8(3): 278–298.
Multiplicity of orderings
Law, John. 1994. Organizing modernity. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Vocation, Vision, Administration, Enterprise
Boundaries in flux
Drawing, undrawing and redrawing boundaries
Modes of orderings and boundaries which matter
Disciplines as
cognitive
topographies
Europe &
nation states
Centres/
periphery &
East/West
the scientific
& the social
Excellence &
its others
Situating
Geographies
&
of reference being situated
Institutional
boudaries
Labelling
research
Basic/applied
research
The excellent and the others
• As an boundary object travelling across the EU
• Universal indicators favouring natural sciences’ epistemic
practices and patterns
• Researchers’ attitudes
– internalization of the audit framework by most
bioscientists
– critical voices in biosciences: appeal to alternative
mode, to „good science“ (cooperation, students,
freedom)
– moderate critique in social science (modified
assessment)
• Funding scheme for excellent „risky“ research to mitigate
perverted effects of audit culture