Thread by @schuh_melissa

What we value as academics vs how academic work is evaluated by various stakeholders in politics/media/outside of HigherEd has been a clear undercurrent in #IchBinHanna .

One problem I've talked about before is the criterion of 'innovation'.

Some more thoughts: THREAD 🧵1/25

https://twitter.com/schuh_melissa/status/1407460666462638084

We see this in the commentary of yesterday's Tagesthemen. A fundamental disregard for academic work is on display: 'young scholars need to deal with reality’, ‘there isn't enough space for everyone to get permanent jobs’, ‘the system is as it should be’ etc. #IchBinHanna 2/25

Although NOBODY is actually demanding permanent jobs for 'everyone' by the way - academic work is once again relegated to the privileged 'hobby' sphere: ‘just deal with it, academia is supposed to be a competitive environment after all?’ #IchBinHanna 3/25

Dehumanising language has been rife in this discourse about precarity in academia, starting with the image of scholars 'clogging' the system to the idea of universities as 'continuous flow heaters' in which scholars are burned and then spit out again. #IchBinHanna 4/25

One does indeed wonder why anyone should bother pursuing scholarship for a system that undervalues research and education to the extent that only those privileged enough to pay this price are encouraged to try and crash and burn in the attempt. #IchBinHanna 5/25

Neoliberal metrics of ‘innovation’ and ‘impact’ seem to put measurable value on academic results, but actually devalue core educational & scholarly work: teaching & supervision, long-term, slow & careful research, mentoring, provisional results, collaboration... #IchBinHanna 6/25

Academia is valued and evaluated as this ‘special’ place where hyper-competitive conditions and pressure are constructed as ‘necessary’ structures to foster ‘good’ scholarship. Allegedly even ‘the best’ scholarship. #IchBinHanna 7/25

Who is actually supposed to survive let alone thrive under such conditions?! What kind of place is an academic world where scholars are to be used and discarded as disposables under a revolving door policy. #IchBinHanna 8/25

What this system and it’s defenders end up valuing and evaluating: fast and flashy results and publications, quantity over quality, perceived lone ‘brilliance’ over teamwork and collaboration, name-dropping and status, the ability to write shiny proposals…etc. #IchBinHanna 9/25

This isn’t about ‘fair competition’ or ‘measuring skills’, it’s about the privilege to keep stewing in a pressure cooker long enough till you ‘fail’ or are randomly deemed worthy enough. One result of going through this: survivor bias and the meritocracy myth. #IchBinHanna 10/25

It’s no surprise that language around supposed academic success and failure is so entrenched in analogies of endurance, of winning and losing, survival or annihilation: see ‘publish or perish’. #IchBinHanna 11/25

Behind all of this mad scrambling through existential anxiety, looming burn-outs and cut-throat competition are the things that really make an academic community, the glue, the currently crumbling foundation of actual ‘innovation’. #IchBinHanna 12/25

Being patient, encouraging, supportive and inspiring in your teaching. Taking time to mentor and supervise students, to do administrative work, to give them constructive feedback and devise actually research-led courses. #IchBinHanna 13/25

Case in point: I’ve helped students set up a creative writing club for them to socialise, practice writing, be creative, read and review each other’s work.

Of course, spending this time is detrimental rather than beneficial to my CV. #IchBinHanna 14/25

Helping and supporting colleagues and peers, especially those less experienced, without looking to gain credit via authorship on their papers or asking for a quid pro quo. #IchBinHanna 15/25

For example: when I proofread, or copy-edit for peers, I’m actively engaging in academic discussion, helping to improve publications and ideas.

This work is invisible, no hiring committee cares in whose acknowledgments I may feature.

#IchBinHanna 16/25

Collaborating with other scholars, creating networks, organising conferences and events without specifically looking to take the stage, strategically network and draw the attention of ‘big names’.

#IchBinHanna 17/25

How much more equitable, diverse, and creative might academic collaboration become without the constant anxiety of having to come out ‘on top’? The performance of collaboration may be sought for but power imbalance & hierarchy always impinge on such endeavours. #IchBinHanna 18/25

The system doesn’t value such contributions. It punishes them as a waste of time better spent on writing grant applications or worse, notices them as a sign of lacking commitment or drive because these are dalliances in service of community rather than career. #IchBinHanna 19/25

We should think hard about what we value in terms of academic work, how the things we do are evaluated & appreciated inside & outside of academia. We need to find the words to give value to all that work, especially for the kind that happens behind the scenes. #IchBinHanna 20/25

Out of all the feedback I’ve received over my time in academia, one of the things I often reflect on is the combined compliment and criticism that I’m ‘too nice’ for the academic world. (Heard it more than once by now.) #IchBinHanna 21/25

(Possible casual sexism aside) What is wrong with being nice? What is wrong with being supportive, collegial, collaborative, welcoming, patient, & caring- in a place that is supposed educate,inspire, foster new knowledge, expand on what we think to be possible? #IchBinHanna 22/25

Academic work is clearly under appreciated and plenty of what we’ve heard in response to our problems with precarity rings with utilitarian disregard.

But what we value and what is showcased as mattering in academia is an important part of the discussion. #IchBinHanna 23/25

Not least because a lot of the invisible work of making academia a community (and an equitable, diverse, and inclusive community for that matter) is done by women and other marginalised groups and scholars. #IchBinHanna 24/25

I dream of an academy that is actually valued and in turn values its academic community, acknowledging all the work that is being done to uphold it and keep it together. I dream of an academic place where there’s no such thing as being ‘too nice’. #IchBinHanna 25/25