Slides from a keynote at the meeting 'Perspectives of Research Excellence in the Global South' - argues that considering research excellence as a neo-colonial agenda helps to defuse the dangers that a North Atlantic attitude to 'biblio-excellence' creates but also offers opportunities for developing and transitional countries to take a leadership role on the future of research policy
Excellence is a neo-colonial agenda...and what we can do about
1. Excellence is a Neo-colonial Agenda
@cameronneylon
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0068-716X
Perspectives on Research Excellence in the Global South
Johannesburg, 12 July 2018
…and what we can do about it
13. As a world-leading centre of
academic excellence we aim…
University of Edinburgh
14. The university counts the diversity of
its community as […] integral to its
mission of excellence, and it is
committed to diversity and
inclusiveness in both educational…
University of Maryland
21. How can we determine or measure…
“excellence”?
22. We prize
academic excellence at UC Davis.
More than 500 of our faculty have
earned prestigious [..] honors[..]
rank[ings]. UC Davis
23. Pursuing excellence means being
satisfied with no less than the
highest goals we can envision.
University of Missouri
24. Pursuing excellence involves being
informed by regional, national and
global standards, as well as our
personal expectations. University of Missouri
25. “excellence” is the holy
grail of academic life
Michèle Lamont
How Professors Think
26. excellence is produced and
defined in a multitude of sites
and by an array of actors
Michèle Lamont
How Professors Think
27. excellence is produced and
defined in a multitude of sites
and by an array of actors
Michèle Lamont
How Professors Think
28. excellence is produced and
defined in a multitude of sites
and by an array of actors
Michèle Lamont
How Professors Think
29. excellence is produced and
defined in a multitude of sites
and by an array of actors
Michèle Lamont
How Professors Think
30. “excellence” tells us nothing
about how important the science is
and everything about who decides.
Jack Stilgoe
Against Excellence
35. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to
impress the listener and the reader
with words that communicate that
[…]something is being or has been
done, words that are neither true
nor false, and so obscure the facts of
the matter being discussed”
Harry Frankfurt