Full Description
What is this 'idea' of the university? Why does it need to be defended?
Does the work of defense preclude the task of rearranging the idea itself?
Drawing on these essential questions, this volume traces the historical transformations of the university in medieval Europe and explores current debates on its existence and sustenance in a neoliberal India. It challenges the liberal-humanist 'ideal' of academic exchange to inquire into long befuddled debates on the true nature of the modern university.
Along with its companion The University Unthought: Notes for a Future, this brave new intervention makes a compelling foray into the political future(s) of the university. It will be of interest to academics, educators and students of the social sciences and humanities, especially education. It will also be of use to policy-makers and education analysts, and central to the concerns of any citizen.
Contents
Introduction: The University in History: From 'Idea' to Impossibility. Part I: Historicising the Contemporary 1. The Vocation of the Public University 2. The Surplus University 3. Perils and Prospects of the Modern University: African and Asian Contexts in a World-Historical Perspective Part II: Understanding Contexts 4. Divide and Educate 5. Of Utopias and Universities 6. Audit Cultures and the Indian University as Credit-Capital 7. Of Feudal Intellectual Capital: The History of the New Provincial Universities Part III: (A)politics in/of the University? 8. Is There a Calling on the Left? 9. The University as Passivity? The Role of Students' Political Activism 10. The Convergence of Unequals: Struggle for Rights in the University Space Part IV: Reflections and Memoirs 11. Bearing Witness to the University-'Idea': Some Personal Reflections 12. Don't Study, Be Happy 13. The Presidential Transition 14. University: The State's Kitchen?
