Aslı Vatansever

This talk will deal with the current state of academic work and employment. Specific attention will be paid to the tension between neoliberal labor casualization and the traditional academic work culture based on passion and intrinsic motivation. The impact of the decrease in job security and the rise of temporary employment practices will be discussed from the perspective of both the future of higher education and the well-being of early-career researchers. The main aim is to illuminate how sector-specific factors can be conducive to neoliberal exploitation mechanisms, especially in creative/intellectual sectors. Ultimately this talk seeks to stimulate critical reflection on possible means to overcome voluntary self-exploitation in the creative sectors.

Dr. Aslı Vatansever (PhD University of Hamburg, 2010) is a sociologist of work and social stratification with a focus on precarious academic labor. Currently, she is a Philipp-Schwartz-Fellow at Bard College Berlin and works on a project titled “Varieties of Academic Labor Activism in Europe”. Her books include: “Ursprünge des Islamismus im Osmanischen Reich. Eine weltsystemanalytische Perspektive” (Hamburg: Dr. Kovač, 2010), “Ne Ders Olsa Veririz. Akademisyenin Vasıfsız İşçiye Dönüşümü” (Ready to Teach Anything. The Transformation of the Academic into Unskilled Worker, Istanbul: İletişim, 2015 – co-authored with Meral Gezici-Yalçın), and “At the Margins of Academia. Exile, Precariousness, and Subjectivity” (Brill: 2020).

Contact information:  communications@berlin.bard.edu