Description
Book SynopsisContemporary Campus Life’s analysis of managerialism as a cause of academentia is partly framed by exigencies imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic. Keyan Tomaselli’s argument is that the virus has brought about an ecological correction that affects all human and animal kinds, one that management theory can learn from. Tomaselli’s very easy to read critique of market-driven neoliberalism is offered as a metaphor to analyse the excesses, contradictions and obstructions in contemporary university governance. With incisive satirical humour, Tomaselli delves into the quirks of university administrative systems and how these affects lived relations within sections of the academy, in teaching and research practice, science and reasoning.
Trade Review“Arguably South Africa’s most perceptive cultural studies scholar, Keyan Tomaselli takes the academic reader on a decidedly uncomfortable, insightful, and entertaining ride through the managerial university to show us, barefaced, what we have become. You laugh and you cry. You squirm with discomfort and you nod in agreement. In the mindless pursuit of efficiency, productivity, and measurement, we have lost sight of the broader purposes of education and the intrinsic value of academic work. In this unusual book, the dour account of the social theorist is replaced with the cutting analysis of the satirist. In the process, Tomaselli has produced one of the best available satires of academic life.” - Jonathan Jansen, President of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
“A witty, engaging critique of the impact of unfettered managerialism and the havoc it has wrought in South African academic institutions.” —Mbongeni Malaba, Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa
“Thoroughly enjoyable.... Tomaselli’s most exquisite book offers extremely valuable insights into the working conditions of a South African academic experiencing the slow but steady rise of neoliberalism and managerialism.” — Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young, Australian Universities’ Review
