Academic domains as political battlegrounds: A global enquiry by 99 academics in the fields of education and technology

2017

Al Lily, Abdulrahman E

Foland, Jed

Vlachopoulos, Dimitrios

Oni, Aderonke

Liu, Yuliang

Badosek, Radim

de la Madrid, Maria Cristina Lopez

Mazzoni, Elvis

Lee, Hwansoo

Kinley, Khamsum

Kalz, Marco

Sambuu, Uyanga

Stoloff, David

Bushnaq, Tatiana

Pinkwart, Niels

Adedokun-Shittu, Nafisat Afolake

Zander, Par-Ola Mikael

Oliver, Kevin

Pombo, Lucia Maria Teixeira

Sali, Jale Balaban

Gregory, Sue

Tobgay, Sonam

Joy, Mike

Gogus, Aytac

Elen, Jan

Jwaifell, Mustafa Odeh Helal

Said, Mohd Nihra Haruzuan Mohamad

Al-Saggaf, Yeslam

Naaji, Antoanela

White, Julie

Jordan, Kathy

Gerstein, Jackie

Yapici, Ibrahim Umit

Sanga, Camilius

Erguvan, Inan Deniz

Nleya, Paul T

Sbihi, Boubker

Lucas, Margarida Rocha

Mbarika, Victor

Reiners, Torsten

Schon, Sandra

Sujo-Montes, Laura

Santally, Mohammad

Hakkinen, Paivi

Saif, Abdulkarim Al

Awshar, Mapotse Tome

Gegenfurtner, Andreas

Schatz, Steven

Vigil, Virginia Padilla

Tannahill, Catherine

Partida, Siria Padilla

Zhang, Zuochen

Charalambous, Kyriacos

Moreira, Antonio

Coto, Mayela

Laxman, Kumar

Tondeur, Jo

Farley, Helen Sara

Gumbo, Mishack T

Simsek, Ali

Ramganesh, E

Birzina, Rita

Player-Koro, Catarina

Dumbraveanu, Roza

Ziphorah, Mmankoko

Mohamudally, Nawaz

Thomas, Sarah

Hammond, Michael

Romero, Margarida

Nirmala, Mungamuru

Cifuentes, Lauren

Osaily, Raja Zuhair Khaled

Omoogun, Ajayi Clemency

Seferoglu, S Sadi

Elci, Alev

Edyburn, Dave

Moudgalya, Kannan

Ebner, Martin

Venter, Isabella M

Bottino, Rosa

Khoo, Elaine

Pedro, Luis

Buarki, Hanadi

Roman-Odio, Clara

Qureshi, Ijaz A

Khan, Mahbub Ahsan

Thornthwaite, Carrie

Kerimkulova, Sulushash

Downes, Toni

Jerry, Paul

Malmi, Lauri

Bardakci, Salih

Itmazi, Jamil

Rogers, Jim

Rughooputh, Soonil D D V

Akour, Mohammed Ali

Henderson, J Bryan

de Freitas, Sarah

Schrader, P G

Journal Article

en

Publication

Sage Publications Ltd

United Kingdom

10.1177/0266666916646415

une:21119

This article theorizes the functional relationship between the human components (i.e., scholars) and non-human components (i.e., structural configurations) of academic domains. It is organized around the following question: in what ways have scholars formed and been formed by the structural configurations of their academic domain? The article uses as a case study the academic domain of education and technology to examine this question. Its authorship approach is innovative, with a worldwide collection of academics (99 authors) collaborating to address the proposed question based on their reflections on daily social and academic practices. This collaboration followed a three-round process of contributions via email. Analysis of these scholars' reflective accounts was carried out, and a theoretical proposition was established from this analysis. The proposition is of a mutual (yet not necessarily balanced) power (and therefore political) relationship between the human and non-human constituents of an academic realm, with the two shaping one another. One implication of this proposition is that these non-human elements exist as political 'actors', just like their human counterparts, having 'agency' - which they exercise over humans. This turns academic domains into political (functional or dysfunctional) 'battlefields' wherein both humans and non-humans engage in political activities and actions that form the identity of the academic domain.

link

Information Development, 33(3), p. 270-288

1741-6469

0266-6669

270

288