Overview
The Critical University Studies Reading Group meets every-other-week to discuss readings related to the critique of higher education institutions. The group run simultaneously in-person and online.
Values
- Community Building: A space to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about critically engaging with higher education.
- Critical Thinking: Encouraging deep, reflective discussions on the structures, policies, and practices of universities.
- Inclusivity: Open to all, regardless of background or expertise. No prior knowledge is required, and everyone’s perspective is valued.
- Low-Stakes Participation: Come as you are—whether you’ve done the reading or not, your presence and ideas are welcome.
- Solidarity and Support: A collaborative environment where members uplift and learn from one another.
- Praxis-Oriented: Bridging theory and action by exploring how academic critique can inform real-world change.
Join
To join the Critical University Studies Reading Group, please email the organiser, currently Java (java.grant@auckland.ac.nz), to be added to the mailing list (it helps if you add a small decription about yourself!).
Additional
- Writing Groups: Weekly writing groups are held on Mondays and Thursdays, focusing on collaborative writing and critical discussions.
- Special Projects: The group is involved in various projects, including the creation of a special issue journal and participation in student activism.
Readings and Discussions
March 21, 2024
April 4, 2024
- Reading: "On the non-performativity of ‘being well’: A Critique of wellbeing in university policy" by Azarmandi, M., & Tolbert, S. (2023)
April 18, 2024
- Reading: "Abolitionist University Studies: An Invitation" by Abbie Boggs, Eli Meyerhoff, Nick Mitchell, and Zach Schwartz-Weinstein
May 2, 2024
- Reading: "Indigenous Inclusion and Indigenising the University" by Te Kawehau Hoskins & Alison Jones
May 16, 2024
- Reading: "In, Against, and Beyond: A Marxist Critique for Higher Education in Crisis" by Krystian Szadkowski and Jakub Krzeski
May 30, 2024
- Reading: "Prising Open the Cracks in Neoliberal Universities" by Catherine Manathunga & Dorothy Bottrell
June 13, 2024
- Reading: "Interrogating the “Idea of the University” Through the Pleasures of Reading Together" by Tai Peseta, Jeanette Fyffe & Fiona Salisbury
June 27, 2024
- Reading: "THE UNIVERSITY AND THE UNDERCOMMONS" in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten
July 11, 2024
- Reading: "DEBT" in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten
August 8, 2024
- Reading: "Orientations: Toward a Queer Phenomenology" by Sara Ahmed
August 22, 2024
- Special Edition: Praxis
- Reading: Various resources related to student activism and university policies.
September 19, 2024
- Reading: "Making Visible Collegiality of a Different Kind" by Mark Selkrig, Ron “Kim” Keamy, Kirsten Sadler & Catherine Manathunga
October 3, 2024
- Reading: "Resisting the Norming of the Neoliberal Academic Subject: Building Resistance Across Faculty Ranks" by Joseph M. Schwartz
October 17, 2024
- Reading: "Reading and rioting: student politics beyond the university" by T. Lamusse, S. Morgan, E. Rākete & A. R. Birchall
October 31, 2024
- Reading: "Dancing with power in ‘We are the university: Students co-creating change’" by Peseta, T., Donoghue, A., Hifazat, S., Suresh, S., Beathe, A., Derbas, J., Mees, B., Suresh, S., Sugita, C., Mallawa Arachchi, T., Nguyen, E., Johnson, L., Clark, S., Ramegowda, R., Alford, J., Manthos, M., Jose, C., Caughey, E., Reed, V., & Ashcroft-Smith, M.
November 14, 2024
- Reading: "Finances, university, revolt" by Campbell Jones
November 28, 2024
- Reading: "Political Ontologies of the Future University: Individual, Public, Common" by Krystian Szadkowski & Jakub Krzeski
December 12, 2024
- Reading: "AFTERWORD: Thinking, Being, Acting; or, On the Uses and Disadvantages of Ontology for Politics" by Bruno Bosteels
January 8, 2025
- Reading: Chapter 3 "Demands" in Student Political Action in New Zealand by Sylvia Nissen
January 23, 2025
- Reading: "CALLING FORTH OUR PASTS, CITING OUR FUTURES: An envisioning of a Kaupapa Māori citational practice" by Hana Burgess, Donna Cormack, Papaarangi Reid
February 13, 2025
- Reading: "Autoethnography as/in Higher Education" by Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, Daisy Pillay, and Inbanathan Naicker
February 20, 2025
- Reading: "Assessment Policy and “Pockets of Freedom” in a Neoliberal University: A Foucauldian Perspective" by Rille Raaper
March 6, 2025
- Reading: "Crisis Adaptation of Leadership Competencies Scorecard for Leaders in Higher Education" Chapter 6 by Ralph A. Gigliotti