Using Social Theory in Higher Education

Remy Y.S. Low is Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia

Suzanne Egan is Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Australia

Amani Bell is Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia

This open access book offers a unique and refreshing view on working with social theory in higher education. Using engaging first-person accounts coupled with critical intellectual analysis, the authors demonstrate how theory is grappled with as part of an ongoing practice rather than a momentary disembodied encounter. In a structure that creates a space for relational dialogue, each chapter is followed by a response from another author, demonstrating the varied interpretive possibilities of social theory. Collectively the authors invite the reader to engage with them in questioning the usefulness of social theory in higher education teaching and research, in considering its possibilities and limits, and in experiencing the opportunity it offers to understand ourselves and our work differently. Written in a way that is scholarly yet accessible, the contributors explore how social theories can be used to think through issues that are emerging as key social and political concerns in higher education and beyond. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and early-career academics, as well as established scholars.

Foregrounds situated experiences of using social theory

1 Other People's Ideas: An Introduction to Using Social Theory in Higher Education

2 Sit Down, Be Humble: The Influence of the Work of Linda Tuhiwai Smith on Our Research

3 The Decolonial Imperative-Text and Context: A Response to Amani Bell and Gulwanyang Moran

4 After Belonging: Aileen Moreton-Robinson's 'I Still Call Australia Home'

5 In Belonging: A Response to Timothy Laurie

6 Deploying Rose and Abi-Rached to 'Make Sense' of the Rise of the 'Brain Sciences' in the Field of Violence Against Women

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Neuro? A Response to Suzanne Egan

8 The Power, Passions, and Perils of Identity: On Chantal Mouffe

9 Connections, Engagements, and Troubles: A Response to Remy Low

10 The Foggy Window: Passive Empathy and the Fight for Testimonial Reading in Neoliberal Higher Education

11 Performing Empathy with Neoliberalism, or Kendall Jenner on the Streets, Thomas Gradgrind in the Sheets: A Response to Lauren Weber

12 Understanding Higher Education Enrolment Through Michel Foucault's Biopolitics

13 Students, Biopolitics, and State Racism: A Response to Ren-Hao Xu

14 Wrestling with Monsters: Critique, Climate Change, and Comets

15 Still Wrestling with Monsters: A Response to Pat Norman

16 Dialogues Between Activist Knowledge and Southern Theory

17 Approximate Geographies: A Response to José Fernando Serrano Amaya

18 The Historian as Pedagogue: On Hayden White's Practical Past

19 What Stories to Tell: A Response to Remy Low

20 The Good University? Colourful Histories, Ongoing Troubles, and Changing Contexts

21 The Good University Examined: A Response to Meenakshi Krishnaraj, Ren-Hao Xu, and Pat Norman

22 How We Use Social Theory: Common Threads and Concluding Thoughts