'You're actually the problem' : manifesations of populist masculinist anxieties in Australian higher education

Emily M. Gray, Lucy Nicholas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In 2016 the world witnessed a consolidation of a western brand of political ‘populist authoritarianism’ that is anti-globalisationalist and creates ‘shared objects of loathing’ in the popular imagination. This article engages with the implications of this affective and masculinist ‘post-truth’ era for higher education and analyses the narratives of teacher educators who teach compulsory classes based on inclusion and diversity. The article uses the work of feminist, Indigenous and queer theorists to explore gendered responses to pedagogical encounters recounted in the data. We offer a reading of these experiences that links white male objections, particularly around the teaching of gender and race, to the growth of neoconservatism that precipitated the contemporary rise of populist authoritarianism. The pedagogical encounters we explore reflect the notion that the Australian white male is a figure who is brought undone by allowing the subaltern to speak.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)269-286
Number of pages18
JournalBritish Journal of Sociology of Education
Volume40
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Australia
  • conservativism
  • education, higher
  • homophobia
  • populism
  • racism
  • sexism
  • whiteness

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