The University in Ruins

Front Cover
Harvard University Press, 1996 - Education - 238 pages
1 Review

It is no longer clear what role the University plays in society. The structure of the contemporary University is changing rapidly, and we have yet to understand what precisely these changes will mean. Is a new age dawning for the University, the renaissance of higher education under way? Or is the University in the twilight of its social function, the demise of higher education fast approaching?

We can answer such questions only if we look carefully at the different roles the University has played historically and then imagine how it might be possible to live, and to think, amid the ruins of the University. Tracing the roots of the modern American University in German philosophy and in the work of British thinkers such as Newman and Arnold, Bill Readings argues that historically the integrity of the modern University has been linked to the nation-state, which it has served by promoting and protecting the idea of a national culture. But now the nation-state is in decline, and national culture no longer needs to be either promoted or protected. Increasingly, universities are turning into transnational corporations, and the idea of culture is being replaced by the discourse of "excellence." On the surface, this does not seem particularly pernicious.

The author cautions, however, that we should not embrace this techno-bureaucratic appeal too quickly. The new University of Excellence is a corporation driven by market forces, and, as such, is more interested in profit margins than in thought. Readings urges us to imagine how to think, without concession to corporate excellence or recourse to romantic nostalgia within an institution in ruins. The result is a passionate appeal for a new community of thinkers.

 

What people are saying - Write a review

We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Contents

Introduction
1
The Idea of Excellence
21
The Decline of the NationState
44
The University within the Limits of Reason
54
The University and the Idea of Culture
62
Literary Culture
70
Culture Wars and Cultural Studies
89
The Posthistorical University
119
1968
135
The Scene of Teaching
150
Dwelling in the Ruins
166
The Community of Dissensus
180
Notes
195
Index
229
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The university in ruins
Bill Readings
Snippet view - 1996

Common terms and phrases

academic addressee administration American analysis appeal argue argument autonomy becomes Borrero Cabal Bourdieu bureaucratic canon claim Claude Allegre contemporary corporation critical critique cultural capital Cultural Studies dereferentialization difference disciplinary disciplines ethnic evaluation events of 1968 F. R. Leavis fact faculty function Gerald Graff German Idealists global Guillory Hence historical humanities Humboldt idea of culture identity ideological individual institution intellectual interdisciplinarity Jean-Francois Lyotard Kant knowledge language Leavis liberal literary literature logic longer Lyotard Maclean's Matthew Arnold means metanarrative Minneapolis Minnesota Press modern University nation-state national culture nature organic pedagogy philosophy political position Postmodern pragmatism problem production professor public sphere question radical reason refusal relation role ruins Samuel Weber Schleiermacher sciences sense simply social bond society speak structure teaching thought tion tradition transnational tural unified unity University of Excellence University of Minnesota versity

References to this book

About the author (1996)

Bill Readings was Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the Université de Montréal.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The University in Ruins
TitleThe University in Ruins
AuthorBill Readings
Editionillustrated, reprint, revised
PublisherHarvard University Press, 1996
ISBN0674929535, 9780674929531
Length238 pages
Subjects › 

Education / Higher
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan