Zines: Crafting Change and Repurposing the Neoliberal University

Authors

  • Jennifer Jean Bagelman University of British Columbia
  • Carly Bagelman Co-operative Education University of Victoria

Keywords:

foodscape, food justice, participatory mapping, decolonisation, pedagogy, zine

Abstract

bell hooks famously insists that education can be ecstatic! It can be a ‘practice of freedom’ that disrupts unequal power relations and generates social justice. According to hooks, university education can only become this type of energetic practice if students and educators alike experiment, feel and take risks in the classroom. This paper asks: how can we cultivate and sustain this energetic approach to education given the restructuring of the neoliberal university comprising reduced state funding, increased precarious labour and an expectation for speedy delivery? Grounded in classroom experience, I explore how slow pedagogy can contribute to a growing Slow Scholarship Movement that takes collective action against the fast-paced, metric-driven neoliberal university. In particular, I examine how the practice of crafting feminist-inspired ‘zines’ might function as a tool to repurpose universities into more generative, loving spaces for engaged learning and living.

Author Biography

Jennifer Jean Bagelman, University of British Columbia

Post-doctoral Fellow

Downloads

Published

2016-07-07

How to Cite

Bagelman, J. J., & Bagelman, C. (2016). Zines: Crafting Change and Repurposing the Neoliberal University. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 15(2), 365–392. Retrieved from https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1257