Now available at the Antipopper Store!
No comment.
EDITED: Actually, I will say something. As some of you know, I’ve spent numerous years in the disturbing world of advertising. But in my time amongst the Evil Empires, I have never seen as many people in one room so visibly “on the make” as I did at the Cultural Research Network’s PreFix postgraduate and early career researcher professional development day. It was shocking. Part of me puts this down to a delayed reaction to the marketisation of the university, coupled with the rhetoricising functions of the academy, which results in the bizarre spectacle of people suggesting that one “cultivate an affable persona” in order to get ahead in academia. But I don’t think such factors quite account for that aroma of desperate careerism.
[ tags: careerism, neoliberalism, subjectivation, university ]
And the bambi deer said, “I’m not threatening! This isn’t a competition! I’m cute and sweet!”
I’m not sure about the “on the make” bit. That day made me feel, er, off the make more than anything else. Mind you, when it comes to academia, I’ve never felt very makey. I agree that the “affable persona” moment was a cloying and disturbing one but it’s not like everyone lapped it up. I certainly haven’t taken a representative sample, but I haven’t heard anyone’s opinion vary greatly from “what the fuck was that about”?
Oh, I wasn’t for a minute trying to suggest that there was a consensus about it, as our network of “WTF?”-type responses indicates. But my point in comparison to the advertising industry still stands.