Palgrave Studies on Global Policy and Critical Futures in Education

This book argues that a critical understanding of dark academe is vital to the futures of democracy and education. Drawing upon contemporary literary and cultural theory, particularly, affect theory, queer epistemology, and critical race theory as well as critiques of capitalism and accounts of the death drive, it builds a case for identifying dark academe as anything that prohibits the pursuit of democratic education and critical citizenship. It also argues that dark times require a reassessment of the ways theory and knowledge are approached in the humanities. This is necessary if the aim is to truly understand the darkness at the heart of the higher education today. Dark academe works to negate education and learning by continuously telling us that the quest for knowledge is empty, and the pursuit of critique is blind. In this educational darkness, the death drive of neoliberal academe becomes a force that works against intellectual transformation and the deepening of critical sights.

This book assesses to what extent marketisation in Higher Education can be attributed to Neoliberalism. Higher education sectors in many countries have increasingly relied on market mechanisms in their management and functioning, particularly in their provision of education. Many assume that Neoliberalism, with its pursuit of free markets and competition, is the key driver. Neoliberalism continues to be a popular concept to describe the social, political, and economic worlds around us, but there is little consensus on how it should be defined or understood. The book argues that there is a clear scope for the use of Neoliberalism to describe the direction HE is shifting towards, but it is rather inadequate on its own and not applicable in all areas.