1,720,979 research outputs found
Navigating Dark Academia:Student Identity, Nostalgia, and neo-Victorian Influences Online
Full text linkThis article explores the convergence of contemporary student engagement in the dark academia community online with fictional portrayals of elite higher education institutions found in neo-Victorian novels. Using Donna Tartt's The Secret History (1992) as a case study, the article investigates how reference points reveal the allure of social and economic privilege as well as Eurocentric ideas. In analysing users' creative contributions to the subculture online, this study reveals how dark academia reflects, challenges, and redefines historical and contemporary academic ideals, with implications for accessibility and racial diversity and representation.Dark academia as a subculture thrives on online platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Tumblr, whilst paradoxically resisting technology. It resonates widely among users aged 14 to 25, creating a unique space for exploring the intersection of history and modernity. In this way, this study will reveal how the lines of history are indirect and fragmented through processes of mediation and remediation. Bridging neo-Victorian fiction and digital culture, the article uncovers how users collaborate to reimagine neo-Victorian themes, crafting a distinct form of student identity
Articulations of Value in the Humanities: The Contemporary Neoliberal University and Our Victorian Inheritance
Full text linkThis thesis traces the shift from liberal to neoliberal education from the nineteenth century to the present day, in order to provide a rich and previously underdeveloped narrative of value in higher education in England. Rather than attempting to justify the value of the humanities within the presiding economic frameworks, or writing a defence against market rationalism, this thesis offers an original contribution through an immersion in historical, financial, and critical debates concerning educational policy. Drawing upon close reading and discursive analysis, this thesis constructs a nuanced map of the intersections of value in the humanities. The discussion encompasses an exploration of policymaking practices, scientific discourse, mediated representations, and public cultural life.
The structure of the thesis is as follows. The introductory chapter outlines the overarching methodology by defining the contemporary period of this project (2008-14), establishing relevant scholarship, and drawing out the correspondences between the nineteenth century and the present day. Chapter one establishes a history of the Payment by Results approach in policymaking, first established in the Revised Code of Education (1862) and recently re-introduced in the reforms of the Browne Report (2010). Understanding the predominance of such short-term and quantitative policy is essential for detailing how value is articulated. Chapter two reconsiders the two cultures debate. In contrast to the misrepresentative, yet pervasive, perception that the sciences and the humanities are fundamentally in opposition, I propose a more nuanced history of these disciplines. Chapter three addresses fictional representations of the humanities within literature in order to establish a vantage point from which to assess alternative routes for valuation beyond economic narratives. The final chapter scrutinises the rise of the impact criterion within research assessment and places it within a wider context of market-led cultural policy (1980-90s). This thesis argues that reflecting on Victorian legacies of economism and public accountability enables us to reconsider contemporary valuation culture in higher education. This analytical framework is of benefit to future academic studies interested in the marketisation and valuation of culture, alongside literary studies that focus on the relationship between higher education, the individual, and the state
Minimum expectations are no way to value the arts, humanities, and social sciences
No full textThe UK government recently announced its intention to reduce funding for ‘low value’ degrees in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Drawing on her research into the history of higher education policy, Zoe Hope Bulaitis argues that current government demands for courses to demonstrate value fail on their own limited terms and that like previous debates around minimum expectations reflect questions of resource allocation, rather than value
"Minimum expectations" are no way to value the arts, humanities, and social sciences
No full textThe UK government recently announced its intention to reduce funding for ‘low value’ degrees in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Drawing on her research into the history of higher education policy, Zoe Hope Bulaitis argues that current government demands for courses to demonstrate value fail on their own limited terms and that like previous debates around minimum expectations reflect questions of resource allocation, rather than value
Impact, innovation, and the public humanities:evaluating the societal impact of research in the United Kingdom
No full textThis chapter addresses two interrelated terms - “impact” and “innovation”. The chapter argues that understanding the effects and influences of these terms is vital in capturing a contemporary picture of the evaluation of the societal relevance of SSH within the UK higher education system. First, in analysing the REF’s implementation of the impact criterion, the chapter illuminates how the mundane operations of research evaluation are directly implicated in systemic valuation of SSH research. Second, in addressing the rise of innovation, the chapter describes an emerging eco-system of business engagement and entrepreneurialism within the contemporary British university. Taking the case study of creative industries research, this chapter details the growing body of academic research engaged with triple-helix models of knowledge creation. Examining current flagship research projects reveals how national funding bodies are encouraging and incentivising SSH scholars to adopt new professional identities. I conclude with an alternative model, introducing the field of the public humanities
Value and the public humanities
No full textThis chapter intervenes in the vital debate concerning the societal impact of humanities research by defining the processes and practices of the public humanities. First, the chapter outlines the socio-historical context for the emerging field; it argues that this interdisciplinary community can be understood as a twenty-first-century response to pressures within higher education worldwide. The chapter also discusses the effects of the fieldification of publically engaged research in the arts and humanities. The majority of this chapter is dedicated to articulating the processes and acts of meta-scholarship involved in enacting the public humanities which are processual and relationship led. The purpose of the chapter is to argue that, rather than accepting the economised limits around impact in/of higher education, the public humanities are working to stretch and expand what knowledge is useful, for whom. Despite the context of ongoing austerity and fiscal pressure within higher education, the culture of ‘doing’ inherent in the work of public humanities might just make enough space for a broadening of articulations of the alternative values that the arts and humanities have long strived to imagine, nurture, and create
"Minimum expectations" are no way to value the arts, humanities, and social sciences
No full textThe UK government recently announced its intention to reduce funding for ‘low value’ degrees in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Drawing on her research into the history of higher education policy, Zoe Hope Bulaitis argues that current government demands for courses to demonstrate value fail on their own limited terms and that like previous debates around minimum expectations reflect questions of resource allocation, rather than value
- …
