Academic Keywords - Softcover

Nelson, Cary; Watt, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415922038 ISBN 13: 9780415922036

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

Synopsis

Know what academic freedom is? Or what it's come to mean? What's affirmative about affirmative action these days? Think you're up on the problem of sexual harassment on campus? Or know how much the university depends on part-time faculty?

Academic Keywords is a witty, informed, and sometimes merciless assessment of today's campus, an increasingly corporatized institution that may have bitten off more than its administration is ready to chew. Cary Nelson and Steve Watt use the format of a dictionary to present stories and reflections on some of the most pressing issues affecting higher education in America. From the haphazard treatment of graduate students to the use and abuse of faculty (as well as abuses commited by faculty), Nelson and Watt present a compelling and, at times, enraging report on the state of the campus.

About this title

About the Author

of the landmark reader, Cultural Studies, (1992) as well as Higher Education Under Fire (1994) and Disciplinarityand Dissent in Cultural Studies (1996), all published by Routledge. Stephen Watt is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Indiana University.

Reviews

How would you define academic freedom? Do you know the true meaning of faculty or sexual harassment? These are three of 47 words and phrases explained in this unusual work. Nelson (English, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Manifesto of a Tenured Radical, New York Univ., 1997) and Watt (English and cultural studies, Indiana Univ.) have composed a dictionary they describe as a cross between Ambrose Bierces 1911 The Devils Dictionary and Raymond Williamss Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976). Like its predecessors, Nelson and Watts work incorporates (sometimes irreverent) definitions of words and phrases of importance to the academic world to help both academics and the public better understand education today. The definitions range from a few sentences to miniessays several pages long. Some entries include See also references to other definitions. The authors feel that higher education is in serious trouble, and their book works successfully as a consciousness-raising vehicle. We make no apology for and offer no retreat from the very bleak, even apocalyptic, portrait we paint of higher educations prospects, they write in their preface. Recommended for academic libraries.Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415922038
• ISBN 13: 9780415922036
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 350