This abstract is based on a multisited policy ethnography. This ethnography aimed to contribute to research on international higher education reform by offering an empirical and theoretical account of the governing mode of the Bologna Process, including the use of standards as a governing technology, and by demonstrating how the reform materializes and is translated in everyday working life. In order to be able to work with agency in relation to international education reform processes I take inspiration in Karen Barad’s work in which she brings together continental philosophy and quantum physics and thereby manages to ascribe agency to matter. By following Barad and by reading her philosophy along the lines of a phenomenological tradition dating back to Heidegger I use her to explore, for instance, the role of material artifacts in the reform process. I also take inspiration in affectivitity theory, in particular Wetherell who investigates how affective practices appear in social life. In this way I try to offer an empirical and theoretical repertoire for thinking about the agency of materiality (in this case scorecards) and affectivity (in this case desire and shame) that is a concept of distributed agency, including both human and non-human agency, as integral to the understanding of education reform such as the Bologna Process.
Originalsprog
Engelsk
Udgivelsesår
2015
Antal sider
3
Status
Udgivet - 2015
Begivenhed
The European Conference on Educational Research: ECER - Corvinus University, Budapest, Ungarn Varighed: 7 sep. 2015 → 11 sep. 2015