The Performative University: ‘Targets’, ‘Terror’ and ‘Taking Back Freedom’ in Academia

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. This special issue assembles eight papers which provide insights into the working lives of early career to more senior academics, from several different countries. The first common theme which emerges is around the predominance of ‘targets’, enacting aspects of quantification and the ideal of perfect control and fabrication. The second theme is about the ensuing precarious evocation of ‘terror’ impacting on mental well-being, albeit enacted in diverse ways. Furthermore, several papers highlight a particular type of response, beyond complicity to…