Exploring identity

Abstract

A generation of change in Higher Education (HE) has seen a progressive shift to utilitarian values and the consequent questioning of the nature, purposes and roles of the university. This in turn leads to the question: what does it mean to be a university academic today? This suite of poems entitled ‘Exploring Identity’ arose in response to these questions. The poems form a cycle which begins with the nature of HE and academic practice, based on experience; then moves to more intimate reflections on academic identity. It concludes with responses to the changing purpose of HE as envisioned in the Government's White Paper (2003) and its implications for university academics and the university itself in a time of uncertainty. A coda, in the form of a final poem, offers one way forward.

Notes

The editors would particularly welcome, in the Points for Debate section, readers’ comments on or responses to articles which have appeared in earlier issues of the Journal. These may be in the form of a short paper or letter and should be sent to Stephen Rowland, Department of Education and Professional Studies, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT. Selected contributions will be published at the earliest opportunity.

A selfless, artless community of practice embodies praxis. This is higher education in its purest sense: its true identity, its purpose being to share knowledge and facilitate creation through critical dialogue. The sharing includes that between disciplines, between teacher and student, as well as with the rest of society. How can such freedom not lead to the energy of creation?

Though academic identity is multi-faceted, to me, critical thinking is the characteristic most determinant. Such thinking is addictive and obsessive; it has a ‘buzz’ different from that which one may find in teaching. It is the thinking of Ryle's (1968) Penseur. When applied to research problems within a community of practice, it can—very occasionally—lead to a complete realisation or solution in an unexpected way, like a blinding light. The ‘tiny spark’ of the communally accepted thread of wisdom is, typically, extinguished by the gestalt switch of a paradigm shift (Kuhn, 1962). It is in the nature of such realisation that few are party to the experience, though many may share the joy. Can the potential for such creativity survive the continued pressures towards the development of international research consortia and externally-driven research strategies?

The title symbolises a search for the perfect way to work, create, become fulfilled. The beginning depicts an academic elysium from the standpoint of the lover of their subject (magician), teacher (translator of spells), researcher/creator (musician, painter), and mentor of students (‘tiny ball-bearings’). The ‘Complete Academic’: the personal truth and the public image. There follows a progressive descent to quotidian realities: the tensions for a scientist in a clinical community of practice; the difficulties in maintaining a multi-disciplinary degree programme when both the Research Assessment Exercise and the boundaries (‘fault-lines’) of different disciplines (Wenger, 1998) disincentivise teaching, particularly across such boundaries; the futility of changing agendas and targets coupled with a lack of transparency of Kafka-esque proportions that is utterly disempowering (‘small rusty key’). The poem ends with the overworked academic (Tytherleigh & Cooper, 2003) faced with the dreary relentlessness of administration, schlepping to and from work with bulging briefcase (‘bag-hag’: the business executives’ ridicule of middle-management women—according to BBC Radio 4), a sub-human species from Fritz Lang's film ‘Metropolis’, progressively pulled away from ‘the magnetic heart’ (Lumley, 2004) of their subject and doubtful of any personal enrichment.

A poem on change—of the individual and of HE. Written in response to the view that (1) the purpose of universities is to inculcate skills for employability ‘to enable the British economy and society to deal with the challenges posed by the increasingly rapid process of global change’ and (2) that government support for ‘mediaeval seekers after truth’ in HE is unjustifiable—except for special cases which are envisaged as ‘an adornment’ to society (Clarke, 2003). This brought to mind the preservation of rare species in English Nature-designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest—‘an SSSI’ (with an incidental pun on science). My years in full-time research were spent continually extending my knowledge and skills in adaptation to changes in the direction of science funding and prevailing paradigms. Such adaptation to climate change is necessary for survival—at its best an evolution through the discipline, to re-focus thought and re-examine purpose. But at its worst (most intensive) it becomes a form of prostitution—of our subjects and ourselves and is relentless, exhausting and futile. Now, the whole of HE is expected to commodify itself, driven by external pressures. Few seem to care how it's achieved, or what kind of creature the university/academics will become … (the ‘fifth larval instar’ is modelled on that of a dragonfly—allegedly the inspiration for H. R. Giger's Alien of the eponymous film). And what of creativity during turbulence or drought, with no still surface to reflect truth or values?

The angst of an identity trying to re-discover itself in a vacuum. Contrast this with Barnett's (2000, p. 131) vision of today's university in which communication ‘entirely open and devoid of constraint’ and a non-hierarchical management style are argued to be crucial to enable academics ‘to make judgements and take actions that are likely to anticipate emerging circumstances’ (Barnett, 2000, p.135) and hence to develop a collective self-understanding of the purpose and place of the university in the world.

Academic identities contiguous and co-existent: the black, managerial; the felt, disciplinary. And the multi-coloured thing? Interdisciplinary, of course.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janina Chowaniec

The editors would particularly welcome, in the Points for Debate section, readers’ comments on or responses to articles which have appeared in earlier issues of the Journal. These may be in the form of a short paper or letter and should be sent to Stephen Rowland, Department of Education and Professional Studies, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT. Selected contributions will be published at the earliest opportunity.