Shaping the self to sustain the other: mapping impacts of academic identity in education for sustainability

Abstract

Academic and disciplinary modes of identity are arguably the constituent elements of scholarly cultures (Hall 2002; Shulman 2004). Such elements are a crucial ‘point of entry’ for change projects. Many change projects inherently involve the imposition of constraints and demands for change on academics. This paper seeks to explore the implications of constructed academic identity for change projects with a focus on education for sustainability. How does the personal sense of the role of academic contribute to the cultural challenge we face in seeking to implement change projects (for sustainability) in higher education?

Keywords:

• identity
• discipline
• change projects
• education for sustainability

Acknowledgement

The author thanks the editors and reviewers for very helpful comments.

Notes

1. Coined by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, as Head of the World Commission on Environment and Development and considered in the book Our Common Future (Brundtland 1990).

2. Adapted from the definition of sustainability used at the Sustainable Living Festival, Federation Square, Melbourne, February, 2007.

3. Andrew Bolt is an opinion columnist for the Herald Sun, a tabloid owned by News Ltd and published in Victoria, Australia. Over recent years, Bolt has repeatedly attacked individual academics at a number of Australian universities, critical of what he sees as compliance with left‐wing ideologies. He has also published and decried the titles and content of a number of Australian Research Council grant applications, especially where the research focuses on issues of sexuality, gender, race and the body. See http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/columnist/0,21997,25717,00.html