Professor associado do Departamento de Antropologia do ISCTE-IUL Investigador do NEANT-ISCTE, do CEA-ISCTE e do CITCEM-FLUP Membro da direcção do CEA-ISCTE Membro da direcção do AEGIS Coordenador da Biblioteca Central de Estudos Africanos Coordenador da linha de investigação Guerras e Conflitos do CEA-ISCTE Presidente da Secção Profissional de Estudos do Património da SGL Coordenador do Núcleo de Estudos Etíopes da SPEP-SGL Sócio da EASA e do ISOLA Representante da HAKLUYT SOCIETY em Portugal Presidente da ACA-M (Associação de Cidadãos Auto-Mobilizados) Vicepresidente da FEVR

...Como se fôssemos muito estúpidos

como escrever textos de antropologia (versão 1)
como escrever textos de antropologia (versão 2)
como escrever textos de antropologia (versão 3)

como ter atenção ao sistema (lembrete 1)
como ter atenção ao sistema (lembrete 2)
como ter atenção ao sistema (lembrete 3)

Ceci n'est pas un Spaghetti Bolognese

Sous la direction de Pierre Jourde, Université : la grande illusion
. . ..............................L'Esprit des Péninsules, mars 2007

Descrição do livro:
Si les livres abondent sur l'école, ils sont rares sur l'Université, en dépit de la masse croissante des étudiants et de la gravité des problèmes. Le public ignore toute l'étendue de la ruine de l'enseignement supérieur. On refuse de voir à quel point la lassitude et l'écœurement se sont généralisés parmi les universitaires. On méconnaît l'absurdité du déluge de réformes qui se déverse sans interruption sur l'Université depuis des décennies, le délabrement des locaux, l'absence de débouchés pour les étudiants, le clientélisme croissant qui, sur l'alibi de l'autonomie des établissements, transforme les recrutements en promotions locales. L'Université, en France, n'est plus qu'une façade. Cet ouvrage réunit quelques vigoureuses réactions d'universitaires face à cette situation. Ils appartiennent à des établissements d'enseignement supérieur divers, et à différentes disciplines, de la littérature à la médecine et du droit aux mathématiques.

Extracto de um dos capítulos, por Paolo Tortonèse, "Contre la professionnalisation de l’Université".

Bill Readings, The University in Ruins, Harvard UP, 1997

Bill Readings morreu logo após publicar este livro.
Era Professor Associado de Literatura Comparada na Universidade de Montréal.

Descrição do livro:
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.

Recensão de Peter Cramer

E já agora...

Robert Zemsky, Gregory R. Wegner & William F. Massy, Remaking the American University: Market-Smart and Mission-Centered , Rutgers University Press, 2005

Descrição do livro:
At one time, universities educated new generations and were a source of social change. Today, colleges and universities are less places of public purpose than agencies of personal advantage. Remaking the American University provides a penetrating analysis of the ways market forces have shaped and distorted the behaviors, purposes, and ultimately the missions of universities and colleges over the past half-century. The authors describe how a competitive preoccupation with published rankings and markets has spawned an admissions arms race that drains institutional resources and energies. Equally revealing are their depictions of the ways faculty distance themselves from their universities, resulting in an increase in the number of administrators that contributes substantially to institutional costs. Other chapters focus on the impact of intercollegiate athletics on the educational mission, even among selective institutions; on the unforeseen result of higher education's "outsourcing" of a substantial share of the scholarly publication function to for-profit interests; and on the consequences of today's overzealous investments in e-learning. These trends raise the central question: Can universities and colleges today still choose to be places of public purpose? In the answers they provide, both sobering and enlightening, the authors underscore a consistent and powerful lesson--academic institutions cannot ignore the workings of the markets. The challenge ahead is to learn how to better use those markets for the greater public good.

Recensão de John Rothfork