Abstract
In this reader’s theatre I present a cacophonic ethnography exploring an
affective practice (Wetherell, 2012) that we might recognise as impatience.
A cacophonic form of representation highlights complexity, multiplicity, and
open-endedness (Petersen, 2016). This feeling or mood appears in various
ways in certain research-based interventions in current policy enactments
in Danish universities. Specifically, Danish universities are gearing up on
student mental well-being initiatives following a global concern with the
issue as well as a governmental decision to include student well- being
as a performance indicator in its funding model from 2023. Everyone,
that is, chief administrators, programme convenors, student support staff,
educational developers, academics, etc., are keen to know what to do. For
some, the (unacknowledged) question is perhaps how to enhance the
institution’s performance on the government’s measuring tool, the national
student experience survey, for others the wish for best or good practice is
couched in a strongly felt and openly acknowledged concern for students.
Sometimes these may conflate. As part of a research team that investigates
critically the mental well-being agenda (e.g. Petersen & Sarauw, 2023) and
its accompanying discourses and tools, and subjecitifying practices, we
are currently invited to give talks or present our research at conferences.
We consider our contributions research-based interventions in an intense
and multifaceted policy rollout. The performance presents some affective
‘episodes’ (Wetherell, 2013) in encounters between this critical intervention
and the desire to act as a part of a broader investigation of the affective
dimensions and implications of engaged HE policy-practice research.
affective practice (Wetherell, 2012) that we might recognise as impatience.
A cacophonic form of representation highlights complexity, multiplicity, and
open-endedness (Petersen, 2016). This feeling or mood appears in various
ways in certain research-based interventions in current policy enactments
in Danish universities. Specifically, Danish universities are gearing up on
student mental well-being initiatives following a global concern with the
issue as well as a governmental decision to include student well- being
as a performance indicator in its funding model from 2023. Everyone,
that is, chief administrators, programme convenors, student support staff,
educational developers, academics, etc., are keen to know what to do. For
some, the (unacknowledged) question is perhaps how to enhance the
institution’s performance on the government’s measuring tool, the national
student experience survey, for others the wish for best or good practice is
couched in a strongly felt and openly acknowledged concern for students.
Sometimes these may conflate. As part of a research team that investigates
critically the mental well-being agenda (e.g. Petersen & Sarauw, 2023) and
its accompanying discourses and tools, and subjecitifying practices, we
are currently invited to give talks or present our research at conferences.
We consider our contributions research-based interventions in an intense
and multifaceted policy rollout. The performance presents some affective
‘episodes’ (Wetherell, 2013) in encounters between this critical intervention
and the desire to act as a part of a broader investigation of the affective
dimensions and implications of engaged HE policy-practice research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 2024 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
| Event | Critical University Studies conference: Rage against the machine: Remaking universities for hopeful futures - The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Duration: 19 Jun 2024 → 21 Jun 2024 https://www.cusconf.com/cusc-2024 |
Conference
| Conference | Critical University Studies conference |
|---|---|
| Location | The Education University of Hong Kong |
| Country/Territory | China |
| City | Hong Kong |
| Period | 19/06/2024 → 21/06/2024 |
| Other | The 2024 theme of ‘Rage against the machine: Remaking universities for hopeful futures’ is intended to energise researchers and scholars to enquire into all the usual and multi-layered aspects of university work (practices of teaching, research, citizenship or service) but with renewed attention to possible and hopeful transformations. And we hope it will provoke some new foci for enquiry as well. We need to understand more clearly and more deeply the nature of contemporary changes and constancies in the university as well as their many effects for all who dwell there. We also need to understand how these matters and their effects impinge on the place of universities within their societies and within far-reaching formations such as globalisation, financialised capitalism, and a wide range of social-political upheavals |
| Internet address |