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The ontology of mention: contexts, contests, and constructs of academic identity among the University of Zambia faculty. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 4, (3), 102-116. ISSN: 2326-3873.
(Forum for International Research in Education, 2018-10) Chipindi, Ferdinand
This paper examines the implications of the neoliberal reforms of higher education in Zambia for the professional lives faculty at the University of Zambia (UNZA). It draws on interviews with junior faculty—in their positions for less than 10 years—to argue that their conception of academic identity illustrates the problem of the “ontology of mention” (Broudy, 1986; Lungwangwa, 2000), which contends that faculty do not ‘exist’ in academia unless they publish and are recognized in the publications of other scholars. We also discuss the context under which these academics negotiate their positions in the academy, including material and managerial forces. We argue that junior faculty members in Zambia find themselves torn between the expectation to produce knowledge and the inability of the state to fund their research.