Inside the Ruins: the Challenges of the Post-Historical University

Description

Professor Justin Edwards (School of English, University of Wales, UK)

In The University in Ruins (1997) Bill Readings sketches a plan for negotiating the corporate university's ‘discourse of excellence’ by appeal to what he sees as an equally empty, but preferable, term: ‘the name of Thought’. While the idea of excellence functions as an answer, as a means of homogenizing, quantifying, and closing the question of value, the name of Thought functions as a question. If we accept Readings' position, that there can be no external justification for work in the university, then on what basis can we defend our jobs and research lines? Given the dominance of accounting and administration, what would cause those in the University to acknowledge the complexity of the problem of quality?

Work-in-Progress Seminars
The work-in-progress seminars feature the work of our termly Visiting Fellows and Early Career Fellows.

Seminars begin at 12.45 and end at 2pm. Presentations are no more than 25 minutes long to allow plenty of time for discussion. Tea, coffee and sandwiches are provided. The seminars are open to all, there is no need to register.

Readings for the Work-in-Progress seminars are available the link at the top right of this page. If attending from outside CRASSH, please contact Michelle Maciejewska to access the readings.