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Experiencing paradise, living in paradox: A cultural study of an academic department
Abstract
Data were collected for this ethnographic study of an English department in higher education during the 1994-95 academic year. Multiple open-ended interviews, ongoing observations, and the examination of institutional records and documents were used to understand the organizational phenomena and to create rich, thick descriptions. The study raised a number of questions about life in the academy through the lens of one English department. Structures built over time bring stability and meaning to the lives of those in the department, but they were built at a time when the academy and our society looked quite different than today. Frameworks that worked in the past dominate the future and create tensions because former ways of doing things and solving problems are no longer effective. A segmentalist approach results in people working in parallel isolation rather than in collaborative relationships. Although teaching and service are viewed as important functions, the reward structure recognizes those who do research. Governance patterns are based on hierarchy where rank and title are the first conditions for membership. Rank and gender affect whose voices are heard. Information, rather than being openly shared, is held closely and sometimes used to control. Concrete, rational discourse is highly valued, limiting the opportunity for other ways of knowing to be recognized and respected. The words of the informants are filled with contradictions about what is and a yearning for what might be in this community of scholars. Department members must decide whether to live from their institutional memories or move through the challenges that face them and emerge with a look that may be significantly different than today's reality.
Subject Area
Higher education|Cultural anthropology
Recommended Citation
Byrne, Marilyn Kent, "Experiencing paradise, living in paradox: A cultural study of an academic department" (1995). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9611043.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9611043