Interesting lecture tomorrow!
Posted by Haley A. McEwen | 12 May, 2009Tomorrow, the 13th of May, the UCT Worker's Alliance and Amandla! magazine are presenting a lecture entitled,
The Privatisation of the University, the Commodification of Knowledge
The speakers will be Professor Robert Jensen of the University of Austin-Texas and Professor Dave Cooper of the UCT sociology department
Time: 13:00
Venue: Leslie Social Sciences building, Room LS2B
I plan on attending this lecture, as I think it will be useful in developing my own ideas around what OER 'means' in the context of a neoliberal, globalised, postcolonial world. In other words, I am wondering:
Can OERs be conceptualised as a 'disruption' to the privatisation of knowledge which has been a standard university practice, and therefore a sort of New Social Movement (like the Anti-privatisation Forum or the Landless People's Movement in the SA context) or
Is the concept of OER itself a manifestation of the neoliberal, free trading world in which we live where the borders of the university are becoming less and less powerful and relevant- just as the borders (and role) of our nations are becoming less powerful and relevant as information, people, and goods are criscrossing the globe at unprecedented levels?
I wonder where the speakers stand on OERs, and I will be sure to find out!
