A Cultural History of Higher Learning in the Modern Age / edited by Hannah Forsyth.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Forsyth, Hannah, editor.

Newfield, Chris, editor.

Series:

The Cultural Histories Series.

The Cultural Histories Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher--History.

Education, Higher.

Civilization--History.

Civilization.

Civilization, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2026.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

It is not an exaggeration to say that higher education was revolutionized over the course of the 20th century. After 1900, universities worldwide became less elite. More importantly, they grew from institutions mostly serving a relative handful of mostly white students concentrated in European and American institutions to a mass system enrolling around 40 per cent of school leavers globally. In the process, universities incorporated – sometimes it would be more accurate to say appropriated – regional and Indigenous systems and practices of higher learning across cultures that had developed in some cases for millennia. Higher education played multiple social roles: Oftentimes an instrument of material and cultural imperialism, it was also a key vehicle for anti-colonial protest and post-colonial reconstruction. It was (and is) frequently used to build the technologies and diplomacies that enabled the massive episodes of violence that characterised much of the past century, yet higher learning has also been used for peace, restorative justice, and the revival of repressed knowledges and languages. The cultures of higher learning across the world, from Oxbridge quadrangles to the central library of the Autonomous University of Mexico featured on our cover; from the Iwis of Aotearoa New Zealand to the street protests of Paris in May 1968, from China to South Africa and Latin America, the pursuit of higher learning created spaces of creativity and discovery, contestation, oppression and finally the ‘tolerable sub-optimisation’ of neoliberal universities. Understanding the history of 20th century higher education helps us see new possibilities for the 21st. A Cultural History of Higher Learning in the Modern Age presents essays on higher learning and cultures; geographies; authorities; teaching; disciplines; communities; materialities; contestations and epitome.

Contents:

General Editor Preface, Ning de Coninck-Smith (Aarhus University, Denmark), Julia Horne (University of Sydney, Australia) and William Whyte (University of Oxford, UK) Introduction, Hannah Forsyth (Australian Catholic University, Australia) and Chris Newfield (UC Santa Barbara, USA) 1. Higher Learning and Cultures, Hannah Forsyth (Australian Catholic University, Australia) 2. Higher Learning and Geographies, Hannah Forsyth (Australian Catholic University, Australia) 3. Higher Learning and Authorities, Ellie Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago, USA) 4. Higher Learning and Teaching, Peter Goodyear (The University of Sydney, Australia), Dewa Wardak (The University of Sydney, Australia) and Lucila Carvalho (Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand) 5. Higher Learning and Disciplines, Johan Östling (Lund University, Sweden) 6. Higher Learning and Communities, Debaditya Bhattacharya (Kazi Nazrul University: Asansol, West Bengal, India) 7. Higher Learning and Materialities, Cameron Logan (The University of Sydney, Australia) and Hannah Lewi (The University of Melbourne, Australia) 8. Higher Learning and Contestations, Pedro Arantes (Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil) and Santiago Schavelzon (Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil) 9. Higher Learning and Epitome, Robert Morrell (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Leslie Bank (University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Manya Mooya (University of Cape Town, South Africa)

ISBN:

9781350231962

OCLC:

1582442885