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By drawing on qualitative research conducted in universities in Cyprus, this book presents an account of life in the academy from a feminist perspective. In doing so, the texts uncover new gendered identities emerging as a result of neoliberal and postfeminist discourses in Higher Education.
Adopting a psychosocial lens, and drawing on theories of affect and performativity, this volume explains academics' responses to growing levels of stress, anxiety, precarity and competition in their professional environment. Chapters offer rich observation of how academic staff and faculty negotiate aspects of femininity and masculinity within the academy, and so highlights the performance of 'gendered academic subjectivities' as a way in which academics deal with increasing pressures and anxiety. Ultimately proposing a typography of emergent, affective identities including industry academics, fossilised, family and wannabe academics, the volume yields important insights into the current workings of Higher Education and shows the personal and professional impacts of neoliberal dynamics.
This volume will prove to be a useful resource for researchers and high-level scholars in the fields of education, sociology of education and gender studies. More generally, scholars and academics with an interest in the changing face of contemporary Higher Education will find this book informative.
List of contents
Part I: The Context of Neoliberalism, Higher Education and Postfeminist Subjectivity; 1. Introduction; 2. Understanding the Impact of Neoliberalism on the Education Sector; 3. Neoliberal Discourses and their Influence on Academic Subjectivities; 4. Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and Subjectivity; Part II: Exploring the Neoliberal and Postfeminist Gendered Subjectivities of Academics in Cyprus; 5. Applying a Psychosocial Lens in Research with Academics; 6. Researching with Academics on Gendered Subjectivities; 7. Neoliberal Ideals in Higher Education in Cyprus: The Implications for Gendered Academic Identities and the Emergence of New Identity Spaces; 8. Diversification of Higher Education in Cyprus: The Implications for Gendered Academic Identities and the Emergence of New Identity Spaces; 9. Conclusions
About the author
Eleftheria Atta is Associate Professor in Higher Education in Cyprus. She completed her doctoral studies at the UCL Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
Summary
By drawing on qualitative research conducted in universities in Cyprus, this book presents an account of life in the academy from a feminist perspective. In doing so, the texts uncover new, gendered identities emerging as a result of neoliberal and postfeminist discourses in Higher Education.
