I am hardly the first person to point out that working in a university these days is hardly utopia, with ever-longer hours and relentless pressure to publish and delight all students with our teaching. We no longer live in Ivory Towers, but Ivory Flats (or Apartments if you’re American).
In the UK at least, much of this is down to centralisation, bureaucracy and the rise of ‘management’. I wrote these short pieces (witty and perceptive it says on the blurb, but I wrote that too!) to explore what has happened to us in the last couple of decades.
In Notes from Ivory Flats you will find Charles Darwin’s risk assessment for the Voyage of the Beagle, why the peahen is a better guide to email than time management courses, and discover what sort of academic you are – Brain, Bush, Book, Bench or Busy.
Excellent,I look forward to reading this! I began my similar-length career in love with academia but didn’t get the job (probably rightly) & went feral, admiring those who stayed. I’ve enjoyed it but independent writing & research are having their own battles with meaning & possibilities. Still fun
Thanks, Mike. I think when we both started the freedom of the academic and the freelancer was similar but the balance has shifted. A lot of what I wanted to get across to younger colleagues was how much has changed in terms of freedom of action.
It's much easier to freelance now in terms of opportunities, access and support (when i started, having no contacts was near terminal), but harder to earn a living. Pay is poor, people expect it for free when it's someone else doing the work (viz the row about the Observer going behind a paywall)
Ordered! Well done. Good management is an under-appreciated blessing. But We have far too much self-serving management free to wreck organisations in order to “achieve” their personal targets. The scale of damage is still somewhat hidden I fear.
I thought #NotesfromIvoryFlats was terrific. It has been handed on and several more purchases made down the chain on recommendation. You can chalk those sales up to #bluesky - and, of course, the fact it is an excellent contribution on an important topic.
Comments
Why we are all folding napkins now
In praise of ephemerality
Institutions run on the memories of people
The end of the peer show
The great university subsidy scandal
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Ivory-Flats-Reflections-Landscape/dp/1916858678/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32TQ7S5HJ1AN3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jIx3UgXBzXGyYp87CQHiw4OmNOnJrUyqmPi4NWYXFMYhpqNwS3t7z8ljlAmJtr7-dqunV89Ch3ViFSXYpUje5A.qccBKa7sGrr8_OxeDYgKf5U6nmEt6IDgdYzwgp6nVpI&dib_tag=se&keywords=Notes+from+Ivory+Flats&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1734110976&sprefix=notes+from+ivory+flats%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1
The perfect stocking filler for the over-worked and under-appreciated academic!