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Postdigital Positionality
Developing Powerful Inclusive Narratives for Learning, Teaching, Research and Policy in Higher Education
Author:
This book challenges the notion that static principles of inclusive practice can be embedded and measured in Higher Education. It introduces the original concept of postdigital positionality as a dynamic lens through which inclusivity policies in universities might be reimagined. Much is written about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) based on an assumption that such principles are already âestablishedâ in educational institutions, to ensure fairness and opportunity for all. In this book, readers are asked: what does an airing cupboard have in common with âcancel cultureâ? This opens a provocative debate concerning the disconnect between EDI policy agendas and the widespread digitalisation of society. Written as Covid-19 has converged with existing political economic spaces of technology, culture, data and digital poverty, Postdigital Positionality calls for more ecologically sustainable inclusivity policies.
Sarah Hayes, Ph.D. (2015), Aston University, Birmingham, is Professor of Higher Education Policy at University of Wolverhampton. She has published articles, edited collections and is the author of The Labour of Words in Higher Education: Is it Time to Reoccupy Policy? (Brill Sense, 2019).
[...] "The impact on inclusivity policy has been overlooked in this recognition, and Hayesâ major contribution with this book is to draw our attention to the need to attend to inclusivity policies and to their current separation from policies on âtechnology enhanced learningâ".
"For Hayes, the pandemic has helped to reveal some of the injustices previously concealed in neoliberal policies and practices. Biology, technology and culture are inextricably linked in failures of social justice and the author is in a strong position at this time to point out how. [...] The pandemic has uncovered disturbing implications of this for both the humanities and computing and their related fields; the need to work together is paramount. There are other global imperatives ahead. We shall need to be clear about our individual and collective postdigital positionalities".
Christine Sinclair in Postdigital Science and Education , May 28, 2021.
"For Hayes, the pandemic has helped to reveal some of the injustices previously concealed in neoliberal policies and practices. Biology, technology and culture are inextricably linked in failures of social justice and the author is in a strong position at this time to point out how. [...] The pandemic has uncovered disturbing implications of this for both the humanities and computing and their related fields; the need to work together is paramount. There are other global imperatives ahead. We shall need to be clear about our individual and collective postdigital positionalities".
Christine Sinclair in Postdigital Science and Education , May 28, 2021.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Authorâs Positionality Statement
Prologue: Opening the Airing Cupboard from All Sides
â1 Virtual Airing Cupboards
â2 Postdigital Airing Cupboards
â3 Airing New Postdigital Policy Discourse
â4 Viral Discourse in the Virtual Airing Cupboard
â5 The Construction of Language
â6 Positionalities
â7 Cancel Culture
â8 Inclusivity
â9 Inclusion in Policy Discourse and a Need for Postdigital Dialogue
â10 Inclusion in Decisions about our Data Requires Some âRe-plumbingâ
â11 McDonaldisation of a Virus
â12 Postdigital Inclusivity
â13 Can Universities Really âCaptureâ, âMeasureâ or âDeliverâ Inclusivity?
â14 Inclusivity Is Not a Static Concept That Institutions Can Control
â15 New Ethics and Ownership Questions
Introduction
â1 Postdigital Positionality
â2 Covid-19
â3 Covid-19 Positionalities
â4 A âNew Normalâ for Institutions, Different âNew Normalsâ for Each of Us, or Both?
â5 HE Policies That Self-Isolate
â6 Precarity, Disadvantage and the Rationalisation of Academic Labour
â7 Politics, Ethics and Human Attributes in the Virtual Airing Cupboard
â8 Inclusive Practice for Algorithmic Identities
â9 Rationality or Positionality
â10 New Postdigital Understandings of Interpersonal Relations and Inclusivity
â11 The Debate to Come
1 Positionality in a Postdigital Context
â1 Why Is Postdigital Positionality a Matter for Everyone?
â2 Positionality in a Traditional Sense
â3 Postdigital Positionality in a Pandemic
2 Rationalisation of Higher Education and the Postdigital Context
â1 The Shared Political Economic Spaces of Technology and Culture
â2 Airing Debate on Postdigital Positionality
3 Postdigital Positionality as a Learner
â1 Learning, Experience and Inclusion as Personal and Embodied, Not Rationally Audited
â2 Resisting the Iron Cage of âthe Student Experienceâ
4 Postdigital Positionality as a Teacher
â1 Measuring What Exactly, and Why?
â2 Finding New, Personal and Plural Starting Points from Which to Teach
5 Postdigital Positionality as a Researcher
â1 The McPolicy of Research Excellence
â2 Scientific Research, Crises and Convergences
6 Postdigital Positionality as a Leader and Policy Maker
â1 What Is Shaping the University and What Might the University Now Shape?
â2 Ecological Approaches towards Policy That Begin from Positionality Not Rationality
7 Conclusions on Postdigital Futures
â1 When Biological Environments Change Social Arrangements Need to Alter Too
Glossary
References
Index
List of Figures
Authorâs Positionality Statement
Prologue: Opening the Airing Cupboard from All Sides
â1 Virtual Airing Cupboards
â2 Postdigital Airing Cupboards
â3 Airing New Postdigital Policy Discourse
â4 Viral Discourse in the Virtual Airing Cupboard
â5 The Construction of Language
â6 Positionalities
â7 Cancel Culture
â8 Inclusivity
â9 Inclusion in Policy Discourse and a Need for Postdigital Dialogue
â10 Inclusion in Decisions about our Data Requires Some âRe-plumbingâ
â11 McDonaldisation of a Virus
â12 Postdigital Inclusivity
â13 Can Universities Really âCaptureâ, âMeasureâ or âDeliverâ Inclusivity?
â14 Inclusivity Is Not a Static Concept That Institutions Can Control
â15 New Ethics and Ownership Questions
Introduction
â1 Postdigital Positionality
â2 Covid-19
â3 Covid-19 Positionalities
â4 A âNew Normalâ for Institutions, Different âNew Normalsâ for Each of Us, or Both?
â5 HE Policies That Self-Isolate
â6 Precarity, Disadvantage and the Rationalisation of Academic Labour
â7 Politics, Ethics and Human Attributes in the Virtual Airing Cupboard
â8 Inclusive Practice for Algorithmic Identities
â9 Rationality or Positionality
â10 New Postdigital Understandings of Interpersonal Relations and Inclusivity
â11 The Debate to Come
1 Positionality in a Postdigital Context
â1 Why Is Postdigital Positionality a Matter for Everyone?
â2 Positionality in a Traditional Sense
â3 Postdigital Positionality in a Pandemic
2 Rationalisation of Higher Education and the Postdigital Context
â1 The Shared Political Economic Spaces of Technology and Culture
â2 Airing Debate on Postdigital Positionality
3 Postdigital Positionality as a Learner
â1 Learning, Experience and Inclusion as Personal and Embodied, Not Rationally Audited
â2 Resisting the Iron Cage of âthe Student Experienceâ
4 Postdigital Positionality as a Teacher
â1 Measuring What Exactly, and Why?
â2 Finding New, Personal and Plural Starting Points from Which to Teach
5 Postdigital Positionality as a Researcher
â1 The McPolicy of Research Excellence
â2 Scientific Research, Crises and Convergences
6 Postdigital Positionality as a Leader and Policy Maker
â1 What Is Shaping the University and What Might the University Now Shape?
â2 Ecological Approaches towards Policy That Begin from Positionality Not Rationality
7 Conclusions on Postdigital Futures
â1 When Biological Environments Change Social Arrangements Need to Alter Too
Glossary
References
Index
All interested in equality, diversity and inclusion in the postdigital context that Higher Education now occupies, including students, lecturers, researchers, leaders, policymakers, specialists and local and international cross-sector partners.