What state are the Australian academic humanities in? Simple. They’re demoralised. How can I tell? The signs are everywhere, but let’s just say that whenever humanities academics get together these days, conversations inevitably turn to a single topic: how bad things are.
In this, the humanities don’t stand alone. Nurses, teachers, truckies, call-centre workers and many others feel harried and oppressed too. We are all working under management regimes – let’s call them neoliberal – that care about things like efficiency, workplace safety, profits, productivity, obeying the regulations, fulfilling the strategic plan. But they don’t care much about us.
