#and I do think that is a valid critique of much of modern higher education; across multiple disciplines

[cosmic-kiwi]

[aion-rsa]

Bo Burnham: Inside Songs Ranked from Worst to Best

https://ift.tt/2JMbiJl

The musical of the summer was supposed to be a life-affirming celebration of one of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods, full of color, romance, and big group dance numbers. Instead for many viewers, the musical of the moment was filmed and performed by one man, alone in isolation from the comfort (or discomfort, really) of his own home, with songs centered on techno paranoia, mental health, and the fear of aging. Maybe after a year stuck in their homes, audiences could relate to the existential dread and general anxiety on display in Bo Burnham: Inside more than a conventional movie musical.

Billed as a stand-up special, Burnham’s latest musical comedy endeavor finds the former wunderkind holed up and feeling more uncomfortable than ever. Writing, editing, directing, and performing from a claustrophobic studio, Burnham’s stand-up special skews more toward being a straight-up musical, and not because the special is light on jokes and missing an audience. Rather this has all the hallmarks of a musical narrative and plays closer to experimental cinema than sketch comedy.

Burnham expresses his characters’ inner-thoughts, fears, and desires via song throughout a contained narrative, in this case the narrative being one man trying to occupy himself during a pandemic. It has ballads, charm songs, comedy numbers, “I Am” and “I Want” songs, and a big reprise. By capturing his personal pandemic experience and putting the whole affair to song, Burnham has created one of the most compelling (and catchy!) accounts of life during 2020.

To celebrate the musical that we all needed after a year in our homes, we’ve decided to rank every song from Bo Burnham: Inside. You can stream along via the Inside (The Songs) album on the streaming platform of your choice.

20. I Don’t Wanna Know

Merely an interlude, “I Don’t Wanna Know” doesn’t quite work outside of watching the special itself. However, it is a clever way to address the fact that modern audiences do not have the attention span to sit through a film at home without checking their phone or complaining about a runtime.

19. Bezos II

While certainly meant to poke fun at the real-life Lex Luthor, it’s not that fun to listen to Bezos’ name repeated. Stil, Burnham does elicit a few laughs with his over-the-top mock congratulations. “You did it!”

18. Any Day Now

A Sesame Street-like mantra that plays over the credits, “Any Day Now” suggests this could all end either hopefully soon or on a depressingly vague far-off date that will never come. We’d like to think it’s the former, but it’s safe to assume what Bo thinks.

17. All Time Low

While this number gets docked points for its short runtime, it absolutely packs a punch with its four-line, single verse. After Bo admits that his mental health is rapidly deteriorating, he describes what it’s like to have a panic attack set to a chipper ‘80s dance backbeat. Unfortunately, we don’t get to ride the wave long enough, and judging lyrics, that’s probably a good thing for Bo.

16. Content

This strong opening number musically sets the vibe for Inside, letting us know that we’re in for some synth-heavy throwback beats that would be best listened to underneath a disco ball.  Also incorporating silly backing vocals, a hallmark of many of Inside’s best tracks, Burnham declares he’s back with some sweet, sweet content. “Daddy made you your favorite,” he sings, and he ain’t wrong. 

15. Bezos I

Unlike the reprise in “Bezos II,” “Bezos I” gets by off its increasingly deranged energy, with Burnham roasting fellow tech billionaires and working himself up into a manic frenzy by song’s end. Musically, it sounds like the soundtrack to an intense boss battle on a Sega Genesis game before ending with a sick little synth solo and Burnham hilarious squawking. It’s arguably the only acceptable thing that Bezos has ever been associated with.

14. Unpaid Intern

While “Unpaid Intern” is one of Inside’s shortest tracks, it absolutely makes the most of its time. The jazzy tune scorches the exploitative nature of unpaid internships before Burnham breaks out into a laugh-out-loud worthy scat routine. It unfortunately ends too soon.

13. Shit

Inside’s funkiest jam sounds like Burnham wrote the lyrics for a new Janelle Moane album cut. Bo show’s off his vocal dexterity and plumbs the depths of his depression in a surprisingly danceable fashion. Throwing in a little faux crowd interaction helps bring home the fact that we have all felt like this at one point or another during the pandemic.

12. Sexting

This slow-jam details the complications of sexting, throwing out hilariously too-true punchlines like “the flash makes my dick look frightened.” “Sexting” feels like one of a few songs that could most easily appear on previous Burnham specials. Proving that Inside’s musical textures do not come exclusively from ’80s synth pop, the outro of the song expertly mirrors modern pop trends by throwing in some trap-influenced “yahs” at the end of Bo’s lines.

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11. How the World Works

Influenced by comedian Hans Teeuwen and children’s entertainment in general, “How the World Works” finds Burnham going back to the well by playing the ignorant, smarmy white guy who is oblivious of the real issues plaguing nonwhite Americans. What’s even better though is Socko calling Burnham out on forcing others to educate him for his own self-actualization instead of doing the work on his own for the betterment of others.

Socko pointedly asks “Why do you rich f—— white people insist on seeing every socio-political conflict through the myopic lens of your own self-actualization?” Not to keep things too heavy, the song ends with an absurdist bit where Burnham returns Socko to the nether place that he goes when he’s not attached to Burnham’s hand. Scathing and bizarre, it’s a great piece of social commentary. 

10. FaceTime With My Mom

While most of the music of Inside feels directly transported from the 1980s, “FaceTime With My Mom” seems only inspired by the past decade’s musical trends, updating the sounds in much of the same way that the Weeknd and Dua Lipa have. This is Bo Burnham as a hitmaker, and his attempt is convincing. “FaceTime With My Mom” earns easy laughs by getting to the seemingly specific, yet universal things that all our moms do over video chat. 

9. Goodbye

Every good musical needs a good closing track, and Burnham nails it with “Goodbye,” pulling off a reprise that weaves in many of the special’s signature musical moments and touches on the special’s core themes. A forlorn piano ballad before it soars through Inside’s best motifs, “Goodbye” caps a triumphant musical achievement, coming back to “Look Who’s Inside Again” just to punch you in the gut one last time. 

8. Problematic

Addressing his past work and some aspects that have not aged well, while also skewering celebrity apologies, “Problematic” is self-aware critique by way of an ‘80s workout bop. From the specific Aladdin confession to the overall apology for being “vaguely shitty,” Bo has never made accountability sound so good.

7. That Funny Feeling

This is Bo Burnham’s version of Father John Misty’s “Holy Shit,” a laundry list of all the stupid things that are signaling the fall of culture and civilization as we know it. If Misty hadn’t gotten there first, we may have had this one ranked higher. Still, Burnham manages to come up with a sticky chorus that you’ll be humming the next time something makes you feel like you’re living in the uncanny valley.

6. White Woman’s Instagram

Perhaps the special’s most playful moment, “White Woman’s Instagram” uses the musical cues of an inspiring empowerment anthem to poke fun at the predictably, perfectly curated feed of a “girl boss” Instagram. The song is greatly enhanced by the accompanying visuals, which find Bo recreating the meticulously staged and glamorous portraits that women pass off as their everyday lives.

However, Bo always likes to sneak in some sentimentality, and imagines a genuinely heartfelt post to his white woman character’s deceased mother. Don’t worry, the emotional moment doesn’t overstay its welcome, and we’re soon back to laughing at horribly derivative political street art.

5. All Eyes on Me

The droning synth and pitch-down vocals make “All Eyes On Me” oddly hypnotic and beautiful. The song seems to be addressing Bo’s depression along with his need for validation and attention, a juxtaposition that many performers deal with. It becomes clear that Burnham isn’t addressing an invisible audience, but himself, trying to will himself up and out of his dreary mental state.

4.  Look Who’s Inside Again

A classic “I Am” musical song, “Look Who’s Inside Again” just may be Inside’s most emotionally resonant track that seems to hit closest to who Bo Burnham was and who he is today. This is the song that I will most likely regret the most for ranking so low.

“Well, well, look who’s inside again. Went out to look for a reason to hide again,” perfectly describes the cycle of depression and will, for me, be the special’s most lasting moment. The downbeat ending “come out with your hands up, we’ve got you surrounded” is heartbreaking enough to send a shudder down your spine.

3. Comedy

The special’s real first number is absolutely packed with hooks, from the “Call me and I’ll tell you a joke” bridge to the “Should I be joking at a time like this?” change-up. This is Bo really flexing how far he’s come as a musician, expertly utilizing autotune and a key change (us “stupid motherf***ers” can’t resist them).

“Comedy” also finds Bo comfortably in the lane that we’re most used to seeing him in, playing the egomaniacal white messiah with a wink. “Comedy” is the tone-setter and it’s so good that it lets you know that you’re in good hands for the next hour plus.

2. 30

Either I’m ranking this song too highly due to its personally relatable nature or the fact that I haven’t been able to get “All my stupid friends are having stupid children” out of my head, but I really don’t care. “30” is Inside’s biggest earworm and addresses the existential terror that comes with no longer getting pats on the back for being a young wunderkind.

“30” also examines generational differences, showing how 30 year-old people are more infantile than ever. However, at the end of the day it all comes back to those shimmering keys and that irresistible refrain. Apologies to my friends with children.

1. Welcome to the Internet

No matter how deep and emotionally rich some of Inside’s other tracks may be, “Welcome to the Internet” is the one that will live on the longest. If this were a traditional musical, this would the antagonists’ showstopper; a vaudevillian romp through the alluring chaos that is the internet. Speeding up and slowing down the pace to mirror the manic, addictive nature of surfing the net, Burnham pitches the negative aspects of online culture as they are: a feature, not a bug. Promising “a little bit of everything all of the time,” “Welcome to the Internet” is almost as enticing as the dark tool itself.

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[elisaenglish]

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

“Two things fill the mind with renewed and increasing awe and reverence the more often and the more steadily that they are meditated on: the starry skies above me and the moral law inside me. I have not to search for them and conjecture them as though they were veiled in darkness or were in the transcendent region beyond my horizon; I see them before me and connect them directly with the consciousness of my existence.”

-Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason-

No one has all the answers, not in terms of absolutes, not in the evolving cosmic mystery, not in the finite assertions of scripture or the many other counter-claims beloved of aspiring messiahs. Everyone has something to say; it doesn’t make it true, it doesn’t make it valid. The world’s awash with amateur “thought” and tides that rise by trends to express it.

And no, you don’t need to tell me that this was quite the opposite of what Kant meant when he urged his contemporaries to “have the courage to use your own reason” and to discard the primordial superstitions of the medieval past. “That is the motto of the enlightenment,” he wrote. As wise as it was, it is today – a locus of seeing, of balance, of truth.

I should probably pause here to explain that my point with this is not to deconstruct the enormity of civilised discourse that stems to and from the eighteenth century. Rather, I am taken with the notion of clarity; and whilst the sum is hardly exclusive to self, I do wish to catalogue the solidity within my fluid.

What does that mean? Simply that I need to take my mind for a walk. I have a degree in English Literature with a minor in Philosophy and a post-grad in teaching; I’ve spent almost my entire life in a classroom in some capacity – I know what I’m talking about. But that doesn’t mean I get to rest on my tenure.

It doesn’t mean that I get to bullshit around the question of why – or how, or fucking hell, or maybe.

I don’t, you don’t, no one really does. Then again, most people don’t hold themselves to account that way. Even the ones who can loosely throw a sentence together are rarely articulate in a cohesive sense. Self-taught is all well and good, but it only gets you so far. At some point, expertise is required as are accommodations more expansive than an echo chamber. Because a prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism? A dearth in the Humanities? Think about it...

When was the last time it led to anything other than bigotry?

But I have good intentions, you might be crying. And fair enough, you might. Still, intentions alone are like any other ill-informed design. As for compassion? Love? Without logic, they too are blind – and we have a few checkered centuries to prove it.

So if not that, then what?

Two hundred years after Kant mused that, “Innocence is a splendid thing, only it has the misfortune not to keep very well and to be easily misled,” Isaac Asimov conveys his own sense of moral skill as defined by character and courage:

“It’s insulting to imply that only a system of rewards and punishments can keep you a decent human being. Isn’t it conceivable a person wants to be a decent human being because that way he feels better?

I don’t believe that I’m ever going to heaven or hell. I think that when I die, there will be nothingness. That’s what I firmly believe. That’s not to mean that I have the impulse to go out and rob and steal and rape and everything else because I don’t fear punishment. For one thing, I fear worldly punishment. And for a second thing, I fear the punishment of my own conscience. I have a conscience. It doesn’t depend on religion. And I think that’s so with other people, too.”

Conviction, then. Conscience. The foundation of what we have come to recognise as the secular ideal: commitment to truth based on evidence rather than faith alone; separation from assigning sanctity to any one person, group or text as the sole custodian of that truth; adherence to compassion as a means to reduce suffering in ways that cause as little harm as possible. Responsibility, you might say, is the central tenet; and the thirst to question as necessary as any instinct for water.

As Yuval Noah Harari writes in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century:

“...secular education teaches children to distinguish truth from belief; to develop their compassion for all suffering beings; to appreciate the wisdom and experiences of all the earth’s denizens; to think freely without fearing the unknown; and to take responsibility for their actions and for the world as a whole.”

Fear is a natural consequence of placing all one’s faith in prescribed “facts”, but modern history shows that societies of individuals willing to admit ignorance and ask questions are far more prosperous and peaceful than those subject to rigid dogma. Fear, it goes, is the embodiment of fear itself – and we must remember that it is precisely those who believe they have a righteous mandate who are truly capable of any atrocity.

Aristotle wrote of the importance of cultivating wisdom, not only for the good of society but as the substance of a happy life. To translate this into pedagogy, we must encourage the evaluation of choices, explore storytelling – first as a means to exercise empathy and then to undertake that passionate dig through interpretation, critique and the analysis of figurative semantics. As for rules, they fulfil an array of practical functions. But the wise will always understand when the context demands we bend them.

“A good will is good not because of what it performs or effects,” Kant writes, “...not by its aptness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by virtue of the volition – that is, it is good in itself, and considered by itself to be esteemed much higher than all that can be brought about by it in favour of any inclination, nay, even of the sum-total of all inclinations... like a jewel, it would still shine by its own light, as a thing which has its whole value in itself.”

Loyal to the last is how I view my secular ethics. Just as to give is to receive and to serve is to be revered, it’s a matter of proportion. As I’ve mentioned before, the lessons flow both ways; past and future, myriad gone and myriad yet to come, of age regardless. And the truth remains, we all need good teachers – fallible in the human sense and secure enough to admit it; beholden to no travesty of myth but always open-voiced and honest.

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all,” Aristotle purports. It’s a process of trust. As for us, we are only what we are, day by day, repeated.

[myflowerfriends]

Blog 4 Revision: “Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere”: Philosophical Worldviews, Education, Ethics & Sustainability

Figure 1. Jupiterimages https://www.bendbulletin.com/outdoors/nurture-a-love-of-nature/article_e49a4294-09a0-5bc8-b740-cbbf9565985d.html

This week’s focus is on the philosophy behind justice and sustainability, stretching from the types of justice, to the importance of childhood education, to how we can be leaders of sustainability into our adult life. Chapter 25 in the textbook begins the discussion by looking at the various environmental worldviews and how we can become more sustainably literate. While it does a great job as an overview, the articles we read look at these topics in more detail.

Intragenerational Justice

“Intra” refers to a description that is on the inside. So, intragenerational justice refers to actions that are happening in the present to protect people in the present. An example of this is the Environmental Justice Movement: a conglomeration of informal ideologies spurred by environmentally concerned theories and practices with a focus on distributive fairness, investigating the social aspects of who is involved in environmental concerns and in what aspect-- who is causing issues, who is receiving them.

The modern movement came about from the merging of environmental concerns and the civil rights movement-- this link in understanding the suffering of people of color and of the environment has been recognized since the start. The movement acknowledges the disproportionate distribution of harmful effects to African Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, the working class, and the poor. The imbalances of environmental justice align so closely with those of all other forms of race.

Various studies have shown that there is a significant difference between how white and minority communities are treated by the EPA, with white communities getting better treatments; though criticisms and counter-studies have shown that it is not a matter of race, but rather income levels-- that industrial workers are hurt the most. Environmental justice is also reflected in language. I think that it is still a matter of race though. That’s where the recognition dimension of justice lies: accepting that there is an exclusionary history that has brought us to where we are today.[1]

Figure 2: The Deniers, 2011. http://inthesetimes.com/article/21980/i-went-to-a-climate-change-denial-conference-heartland-institute-trump

Intergenerational Justice

Intergenerational justice refers to “the set of obligations the members of one generation may owe to people of other generations, past or future.”[2] The author of this article, Clark Wolf, discusses the proponents and opponents to the idea of helping future generations. How important are future generations? If they are not important at all, if we are truly only living in our moment, then we can do whatever we want. But we must want to allow others to have their own choices and be able to have happiness in their moments...sure, we can see as far as we can because we stand on the backs of technological giants, but also because we had the balance of the ecosystem for thousands of years by indigenous peoples…

Wolf does a great job explaining the reasonings behind the group of people I have been calling the “nihilists” in past blogs in the section titled “Rights, Identity, and Skepticism About Intergenerational Justice.”[3] This also lines up with the end of the textbook chapter discussion on denial, indifference, and inaction.[4]The points are seemingly justifiable: why should we be putting so much stress on caring for ‘future generations’ when we could be living happily in the present?

With this, I picture a storm of angry school-age protesters marching in, so as to say “look at us, we are the future!” Unless the anarchists over at vhmt.com are globally successful with this next generation, there will be new people on the planet vying for joy.[5] We were brought to life through community, and we must therefore support our communities.

A critique of intergenerational justice is that it is anthropocentric. Interspecific justice comes into balance that.

Figure 3: Aldo Leopold, https://fpdcc.com/aldo-leopold-forest-preserves/

Interspecific Justice

Interspecific justice occurs between different species. This idea shines through profoundly in Aldo Leopold’s “The Land Ethic,” where he states that “the land ethic enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land... the land ethic changes the role of homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.”[6] This aligns greatly with my writing in the beginning of the semester, where we explained our personal environmental worldview. We must work to eliminate suffering of not only humans but living beings today and in the future. This is possible through healing all the interconnections that built up the web sustaining living beings through the land. To do this, we must stop seeing the living beings and the land as means to an economic end. Leopold says explicitly that “the evidence had to be economic in order to be valid…[but] birds should continue as a matter of biotic right, regardless of the presence or absence of economic advantage to us.” [7] I agree with this, but I also see that humans are a cog in that machine as well—in some sense it is the reason I am in college. And ironically, if I were to follow one potential path and become an environmental consultant, my career would be based upon how many companies I can make eco-friendlier solely for the economic aspect of it. I have told my father, a dentist, that he should stop handing out free plastic toothbrushes after appointments and switch to toothbrushes of compostable material, but I have been unsuccessful as I have not yet found a loophole for a better economics of it. It isn’t that he doesn’t love nature, as he’s the one who taught me to appreciate the outdoors—but he does not feel the urgency to help the environment.

Figure 4: Biophilia, https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/12039-continuing-education-biophilia

Lifelong Education

Biophilia, or love of nature and other life forms, does not have to be taught—it is an innate quality that humans contain as part of our genetic makeup.[8] Although we have evolved a long ways, we still are animals, and studies have shown that we are more comfortable in settings that mimic the natural world[9][10] Although biophilia is an innate part of us, it is not always recognized.

Children, especially in the last several generations, have been spending less time outdoors and more time indoors with technology. Nature deficient disorder is the theory that less time outdoors causes behavioral issues, rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression, and is a real problem affecting children today. Richard Louv coined this term in 2005 with his book “Last Child in the Woods.” [11] Part of what makes humans so unique is that as part of our evolution, we began to sustain a longer childhood—humans are childlike for more of their lives than other mammals.[12] Adults have the option to decide whether children spend this childhood indoors or out. This decision will stem from their education. According to some, it is an act of citizenship to the environment to promote a sustainable community for people of all ages.[13] David Orr’s assessment of higher education is in agreement with this idea—all education needs to be environmental education.[14] The interconnectedness of life forms needs desperately to be recognized in education, because as Martin Luther King Jr. says in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.[15]

Question: Is environmental education political? (Is anything not political?)

Word count: 1370

[1] Elliott, Michael. “Environmental Justice,” Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, p. 341-348.

[2] Wolf, Clark. “Intergenerational Justice,” Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. P.518.

[3] Ibid p.520-522.

[4] Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. 19th ed. Boston, MA: Engage Learning, 2020. p. 694

[5] The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, http://www.vhemt.org.

[6] Leopold, Aldo. “The Land Ethic,” p.201-222.

[7] Ibid p. 210

[8] Heerwagen, Judith. “Biophilia” Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy

[9] Ibid.

[10] Starke, Barry W. and Simonds, John O. Landscape Architecture: A Manual of Environmental Planning and Design, 5th Ed. McGraw Hill Education, 2013.

[11] Louv, Richard. “Last Child in the Woods,” Richard Louv. http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/

[12] Journey of the Universe, Dailymotion, Education Channel. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5k0bcr

[13] Glazebrook, Trish. “Environmental Citizenship,” Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. p.323-325.

[14] Orr, David. “What is Education For?,” The Learning Revolution, 1991 p. 52.

[15] King Jr., Martin Luther. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” African Studies Center https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

[zolisamarawu-blog]

Need to evaluate how universities produce knowledge today

THE Herald reported on NMMU vice­chancellor Derrick Swartz’s address at Saturday’s first­year students’ welcoming ceremony (“‘Fees cannot fall’ ”, January 23). Many had waited with great anticipation to hear his thoughts, given his absence during the eight­week­long shutdown last year. 

Swartz’s address had quite a global outlook, with globalisation, and the rapid growth and displacement of industries by way of technological innovation taking up much of his speech. 

As expected, his address also included views regarding the fees issue and related questions about protest. It was the usual constitutionalism he had also referred to in 2015 and a restatement of the university council’s position – that free education was a national government, not a university, issue. 

As is the trend with much of the engagement regarding the fallist movement, Swartz’s address was limited only to questions of which actions were legal and which not, pronouncing he would clamp down on any attempts to blockade the university. 

I ask whether his address offers sufficient contextualising of the wave of protests that have swept through the country’s universities over the past two years? I’ll borrow aspects of his address to answer this question making specific reference to the debate on decolonisation, one of the central issues for the fallist movement. 

On the role of universities in society 

It is important to consider that part of the fallist movement’s concerns have been the direction of the knowledge project in South Africa, because in its view very little of what is presented as South African scholarship reflects the South African experience. Much lacks a critique of racism, capitalism and colonialism’s role in the shaping of what is considered post­apartheid South African society. 

The dominant forms of knowledge that speak to modernity and the requirements of capitalism reinforces a violent system, and sanitises the structural exclusion of millions of people, their enslavement and land dispossession.

Swartz characterised universities as having the responsibility of generating what he termed “higher level knowledge”. Higher level knowledge, from what he presented, can be understood as knowledge that creates further opportunity for the expansion of the human enterprise on Earth. 

It is often associated with the fields of science and technology, where new findings enable innovation in industry and provide opportunities for employment and through it for economic growth.

Such an understanding of what constitutes higher level knowledge fails to consider the political, social and cultural nature of knowledge production, and privileges a narrow view of education for economic ends alone. Thinking through the politics of knowledge requires that we probe what knowledge constitutes valid knowledge, for whom is such knowledge produced, by whom and for what purposes. 

Swartz’s view, I believe, is extremely limiting and avoids any reference to the critically important debate which the present conflict in the university raises – about the content, form and purpose of high level knowledge production and its intellectual challenges. 

In this regard even a cursory examination of the main characteristics of the global order will show that the great crisis of the world today is represented by deepening inequality, racism, violence against women, destruction of the natural environment and the growing impunity of war­mongering corporate states. This warrants an urgent exploration of alternative knowledge for an alternative society. 

This implies that our society, at a global and local level, operates around a particular form of knowledge – one which is racist, capitalist and patriarchal, and construes ideas of governance and power in specific ways that promotes the prevailing arrangement of society. 

American scholar Ernst Boyer is often credited with the idea of scholarly engagement within higher education. Boyer fits several practices within scholarship into different categories, namely the scholarship of discovering knowledge, the scholarship of integrating knowledge to avoid pedantry, and the sharing of knowledge to avoid discontinuity. 

He arrives at engagement, as the form of scholarship that is dedicated to application, addressing questions of active citizenship and immediate social challenges. The rise of engaged scholarship has been coupled with the rise of participatory research methodologies that recognise the importance of collectivist approaches to knowledge production that do not rest on the perspective of a distant researcher above that of the so­called objects of research. 

Yet Boyer’s formulation of engaged scholarship is limited in its lack of critique of the idea of the university as a colonising, capitalist institution which organises knowledge in ways that support the domination of the world and culture by Euro­American capitalist modernity. 

As a result, in keeping with the capitalist mandate that subdues research to safe questions that do not challenge authority and unsettle global capital, many institutions, like NMMU, do the bulk of their engagement work in the form of partnerships with industries – providing cutting­edge research to several sectors including mining, motor and chemical industries – with some charity­based models where very little of the interaction with “communities” feeds back knowledge into the university’s own knowledge construction processes, its curriculum and research in particular. 

A recent example of why this is a problem is that there are disputes emerging around the Missionvale campus regarding the participation of community members in various projects on the campus, including a project involving food garden cooperatives. 

It should be within the ambit of the university to work with communities to find sustainable ways of living and to be a critical voice in challenging how the world is organised against the poor. Very little of what is taught within university lecture halls is informed by any analysis of the knowledge that arises from engagements beyond the gates of the institutions. 

A case for new knowledge

Higher level knowledge has to be knowledge that challenges our traditional ways (I refer mostly to modernity as tradition here) of thinking at all levels of society. It cannot only be limited to instrumentalist approaches to satisfy the needs of industry but must also, critically problematise the destructive nature of the present social system. 

On the university and its meaning today 

In a university that seeks to produce dynamic higher level knowledge, questions of globalisation should not be limited to discourse about the changing nature of work and industry in the last 30 to 50 years, regarded as naturally occurring phenomena. It should be seen as an outcome of deliberate human action. 

The loss of jobs and industries are results of human decision­making and in particular profit­making by global elites. It is intellectually disingenuous to present them as purported by Swartz in his address. 

Also globalisation must be understood as a product of colonialism that has impacts for culture, reason and knowledge in society today. 

In as much as it is important to possess a knowledge of technological tools that now make our society tick, it is also important that for questions of sustainability and social justice, universities must also produce graduates who understand the world beyond market­ driven knowledge. 

Most importantly, an African university must offer an understanding of the world that is informed by the very experience of African people on the continent. Without such we will continue to promote a knowledge that doesn’t allow us to construct the alternative society we need. 

It is thus important to interrogate the current wave of student protests at university much more deeply, especially with regard to their critique of the process of knowledge production. 

Whatever disagreement may exist with the methods employed by students and workers, they have raised an important discourse which dares us to think deeper about the challenges that exist in our society, and about what and how change should occur if we are to establish a different society.

25 January 2017