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'Peacekeepers’ and ‘machine factories’: tracing Graduate Teaching Assistant subjectivity in a neoliberalised university

Raaper, R.

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Abstract

Guided by a Foucauldian theorisation, this article explores Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) experiences of their work and subjectivity in a neoliberalised higher education environment. By drawing on a research project with GTAs from one UK university, the article argues that GTA work is increasingly shaped by neoliberal reforms. The GTAs interviewed are critical of internationalisation, marketisation and client culture, and see these processes as acting on their subjectivity. The GTAs position themselves as mediators between demanding students and overworked academics: they have turned into much-needed ‘peacekeepers’ and ‘machine factories’. The findings also demonstrate that the subjectivity enforced by a dominant market ideology is further negotiated in the GTA experience. The discourses reveal that a lack of institutional control and coordination of graduate teaching provides the means for, and indeed enables, the GTAs to express some, but often limited, discontent with neoliberalism.

Citation

Raaper, R. (2018). 'Peacekeepers’ and ‘machine factories’: tracing Graduate Teaching Assistant subjectivity in a neoliberalised university. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(4), 421-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1367269

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 30, 2017
Online Publication Date Sep 4, 2017
Publication Date Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date Aug 30, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 4, 2019
Journal British Journal of Sociology of Education
Print ISSN 0142-5692
Electronic ISSN 1465-3346
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 39
Issue 4
Pages 421-435
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1367269

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