At Fulford, three and a half weeks before the Battle of Hastings, an Anglo-Saxon army defended York from a large Norwegian force. Forewarned, they waited at a deep stream: flanked to their right by the River Ouse and their left by marshes. Despite their strong position, the
Aug 25, 2022·edited Aug 25, 2022Liked by FFatalism
Br. F- Firstly, architecture like that is as soul-deadening as it is ubiquitous and banal. I agree that it is culturally funerary in its meaninglessness.
I often want to shake off my para-scholarly tendencies, such as they are. Mainly because, with some notable exceptions, scholarship seems so empty. Just as you describe here. But your post makes me wonder if a true scholarship might survive and even flourish outside the postmodern structures at the twilight of its reign. A kind of guerrilla scholarship. One can hope. -Jack
The one consolation is that these types of buildings, and the "scholarship" they house, won't stand the test of time. They will either fall apart or be razed to the ground. In the meantime they stand as living mausoleums to the cult of empty newness. Modernism promised to make everything new but because of that promise became a death cult.
The whole thing is a human--and other than human--disaster. But I take some hope at the possibility, however remote, that a better way can be found. Even if so, it will be a ugly transition. For the lack of any better way of putting it, this is our task.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves in the next few decades. I know a few profs/academics who are acutely aware of the decline, and wondering what the alternatives might be. Some are considering the development of online institutions that might be more free to pursue those “three gifts of history”. Others are thinking of building brand new physical institutions (with whose money, I’m not sure). I suspect they will be tolerated only if they are small and unobtrusive.
There does seem to be widespread despair even among younger academics, although they are less likely to say it publicly for career reasons. Some kind of 'breaking point' does seem possible, at least in some disciplines.
Almost 20 years ago my University experience left me feeling like a useless cog in a broken clock. It took me the better part of a year to reshape myself. I love the idea of guerrilla scholarships Jack. Something that helps to develop roots in place and people. I hope they exist if and when my children are ready to study.
I'm sorry to hear that. It is a common experience, I think. One of the brightest academics I know seems always convinced that she isn't smart enough and that she's a fraud, and I think that's simply because she's from a working class background and never quite internalised the modern university culture enough to be comfortable in it.
I didn't go to university until I was older, and I think the perspective that granted insulated me a lot. I went from feeling intimidated to feeling quite sorry for the other students quite quickly.
Aug 26, 2022·edited Aug 26, 2022Liked by FFatalism
Thanks for your comment. I think there were many factors responsible for my experience. The main one being bad timing (pardon the pun after my clock analogy!) When I graduated the economic system was in sharp decline and the vocational degree I had gained was no longer relevant in the market. With the breakdown of community I think a large portion of your sense of self is derived from your job. Not being able to get one left me pretty broken! I'm from a working class background too, from an old coal mining/glass making town called St. Helens (you may have heard of it being a Northerner). The school system really pushed me into a 'vocational' course and lacking insight I obliged. Looking back I'd have been better choosing an academic course but my working class roots belied my true desires. I'm studying again now at nearly 40; this time it's different. Not only with the fact that I'm an online student, but also that my perception of the world has changed and I am able to sift through the nonsense and focus on the truth. I have my early university experience to thank for that! I do feel sorry for the young people taking the course though. The camaraderie is non-existent online as is the support network. It must be tough. Going back to the topic of architecture; I much prefer the vernacular option the online course dictates! I'm fortunate in my current location however!
This is interesting to me. I came from working class roots mainly on my father's side--the Irish side (my mother's side was long straining to be barely middle class). My father got into the professional middle class thanks to the postwar boom here in the states. My siblings and cousins have largely followed suit. I have worked mainly what I call semi-skilled postmodern working class jobs (if that even makes sense) e.g. shipping and receiving, landscaping, call centers etc.
BUT...for whatever reason, I had a pugnacious attitude towards whatever level of classism there was both in and out of academia. I was more than willing to go after pretension and snobbery. I definitely got this from my father, and it wasn't always a good thing.
All of this is to say is that hearing about working class people feeling less than, gets my Irish(american) up, so to speak. But I say this almost entirely ignorant of how things work in the UK. In America there is probably more room for this kind of response.
Particularly when I was younger, I saw it is my right to deflate snobs and condescension. I hope that chip on my shoulder isn't quite so big now, and that *maybe* I have learned some humility. Still, that kind of thing can still rile me...
I think the differences between the UK and USA are a big topic. We're more equal than the USA in wealth, but I think we have more distinctions between the classes and just more classes too. I could be wrong about that though.
It's complicated, but there is some room for some pushing back against snobbery here. Often, though, the classes live in different worlds. Engel's description of Manchester as a place where one of the middle classes need never really see a worker is still pretty true these days. Bear in mind, though, that where American pushbacks against snobbery are often 'I'm as good as them (I think), here it's more a generalised contempt that the working classes have for the entire middle classes and their favoured pursuits 'why would we want to be like them?' All broad brushstrokes, of course
I think you're right that a bit of experience makes it a lot easier to spot nonsense. I'm not sure how well I'd cope with an entirely online course even at this age. For teenagers it must be very hard, although I suppose they're more used to virtual life than me. I hope your course goes well!
In Ammanford our local town stands the old Victorian Arcade. It's facade has some fine ornamental brickwork that surrounds the doorways and windows of the buildings that face the street. If one looks carefully at one window in particular you will see that one of the ornamental tiles is upside down. It was pointed out to me a few years ago that the builder when erecting this fine building placed the tile on purpose. It was said that 'He was pleased with his work yes, but only the Almighty can claim perfection'.
In contrast just behind stands the 'Poundstretcher' a monolith to mediocrity.
What a great story! A sadly typical contrast through. It's hard to imagine what some future archaeologist would make of the architectural changes of the last century or so.
A bit more about the hideous architecture side of things. I've worked 10 years or so in academia, down in the South East, as a wretched administrator type of person. Until two years ago there was always a building site (sometimes two) somewhere nearby where some identikit monolith, mostly reminiscent of stacked shipping containers if a little shinier, took shape. An Economics block, a Medical School, prestigious new <s>airport terminal</s> home for the Business School....
I ended up working in the last of these, a grandiose £25m+ battery hen shed where, no matter how many times you walked around the corridors, you ended up turning left when you meant to turn right. Everything the same apart from a few brave tenured souls who rebelliously posted UCU posters on their doors. (It was forbidden to post notices or stick up posters: there were large high-wattage plasma screens for displaying IMPORTANT STUFF 24/7. Cafe menus, how to wash your hands, who to email if no one answers the 'phone.)
One of the few things that broke up the homogeny, a little, were some cute curved glass structures on the mezzanine level. These were created to provide that airy/fresh/modern/panopticon setting for all the glossy website photographs. Regrettably these had a tendency to suddenly explode. The gaps would be cordoned off with "Caution: wet floor" boards and yellow and black tape. Some obscure factory in the Czech Republic somewhere, I think, would eventually deliver more sleek curved structures. After much excitement these would be discovered to be a crucial few millimetres too large to fit... etc etc. It really was like working inside a David Lodge novel.
Since then, and mid-Covidmania, I moved to another job in a slightly more established part of the campus: brutalist concrete but the windows DO actually open. Which is just as well as the heating system is stuck "on" for three-quarters of the year.
I hope the job advert said 'wretched administrator'!
Your description sounds a bit like a picture of hell, especially because the one bit of beauty unpredictably explodes; and I suspect 'glossy website photographs' is probably the main criterion for all architectural decisions made by universities these days.
And of course you can't be allowed to control the heating in your own part of the workplace. I've seen that in numerous places through the years, and it always struck me as revealing an organisation that just fundamentally doesn't trust you.
Thank you Mr. F. A poetic read. But I hope its not as bad as you write - I have a son about to study philosophy at a British university. I will be sure to ask him abou the syllabus,
If he's there to study and not to work, I think he can avoid the worst of it just so long as he doesn't let the university be his whole world. I think philosophy (at least at undergraduate level) tends to be a bit less insular than many other courses too: you're still expected to engage seriously with thinkers from very different times.
There's nothing wrong with uprooting 18 year olds.
Think of the Amish tradition of Rumspringa.
The point is that they have to have a solid, cohesive culture to return to once they've done their gadding about and are ready to settle into adulthood.
The uprooting isn't so much the going itself as what they are going to and what they socially learn there. I left home younger than university students, but to work. Plenty of people my age in my social groups back then, but plenty of older folk at work (and then socially) too.
Lecturers aren't in a position to fulfil the role that older work colleagues took for me. Even if they had the time, they are mostly personally incapable. Those under fifty or so have generally never experienced anything but the extended rootlessness of the university itself.
Br. F- Firstly, architecture like that is as soul-deadening as it is ubiquitous and banal. I agree that it is culturally funerary in its meaninglessness.
I often want to shake off my para-scholarly tendencies, such as they are. Mainly because, with some notable exceptions, scholarship seems so empty. Just as you describe here. But your post makes me wonder if a true scholarship might survive and even flourish outside the postmodern structures at the twilight of its reign. A kind of guerrilla scholarship. One can hope. -Jack
The one consolation is that these types of buildings, and the "scholarship" they house, won't stand the test of time. They will either fall apart or be razed to the ground. In the meantime they stand as living mausoleums to the cult of empty newness. Modernism promised to make everything new but because of that promise became a death cult.
It is melancholy though, so much fruitless work and so many miserable people who could have thrived otherwise
The whole thing is a human--and other than human--disaster. But I take some hope at the possibility, however remote, that a better way can be found. Even if so, it will be a ugly transition. For the lack of any better way of putting it, this is our task.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves in the next few decades. I know a few profs/academics who are acutely aware of the decline, and wondering what the alternatives might be. Some are considering the development of online institutions that might be more free to pursue those “three gifts of history”. Others are thinking of building brand new physical institutions (with whose money, I’m not sure). I suspect they will be tolerated only if they are small and unobtrusive.
There does seem to be widespread despair even among younger academics, although they are less likely to say it publicly for career reasons. Some kind of 'breaking point' does seem possible, at least in some disciplines.
Almost 20 years ago my University experience left me feeling like a useless cog in a broken clock. It took me the better part of a year to reshape myself. I love the idea of guerrilla scholarships Jack. Something that helps to develop roots in place and people. I hope they exist if and when my children are ready to study.
I'm sorry to hear that. It is a common experience, I think. One of the brightest academics I know seems always convinced that she isn't smart enough and that she's a fraud, and I think that's simply because she's from a working class background and never quite internalised the modern university culture enough to be comfortable in it.
I didn't go to university until I was older, and I think the perspective that granted insulated me a lot. I went from feeling intimidated to feeling quite sorry for the other students quite quickly.
Thanks for your comment. I think there were many factors responsible for my experience. The main one being bad timing (pardon the pun after my clock analogy!) When I graduated the economic system was in sharp decline and the vocational degree I had gained was no longer relevant in the market. With the breakdown of community I think a large portion of your sense of self is derived from your job. Not being able to get one left me pretty broken! I'm from a working class background too, from an old coal mining/glass making town called St. Helens (you may have heard of it being a Northerner). The school system really pushed me into a 'vocational' course and lacking insight I obliged. Looking back I'd have been better choosing an academic course but my working class roots belied my true desires. I'm studying again now at nearly 40; this time it's different. Not only with the fact that I'm an online student, but also that my perception of the world has changed and I am able to sift through the nonsense and focus on the truth. I have my early university experience to thank for that! I do feel sorry for the young people taking the course though. The camaraderie is non-existent online as is the support network. It must be tough. Going back to the topic of architecture; I much prefer the vernacular option the online course dictates! I'm fortunate in my current location however!
This is interesting to me. I came from working class roots mainly on my father's side--the Irish side (my mother's side was long straining to be barely middle class). My father got into the professional middle class thanks to the postwar boom here in the states. My siblings and cousins have largely followed suit. I have worked mainly what I call semi-skilled postmodern working class jobs (if that even makes sense) e.g. shipping and receiving, landscaping, call centers etc.
BUT...for whatever reason, I had a pugnacious attitude towards whatever level of classism there was both in and out of academia. I was more than willing to go after pretension and snobbery. I definitely got this from my father, and it wasn't always a good thing.
All of this is to say is that hearing about working class people feeling less than, gets my Irish(american) up, so to speak. But I say this almost entirely ignorant of how things work in the UK. In America there is probably more room for this kind of response.
Particularly when I was younger, I saw it is my right to deflate snobs and condescension. I hope that chip on my shoulder isn't quite so big now, and that *maybe* I have learned some humility. Still, that kind of thing can still rile me...
For what it's worth. -Jack
I think the differences between the UK and USA are a big topic. We're more equal than the USA in wealth, but I think we have more distinctions between the classes and just more classes too. I could be wrong about that though.
It's complicated, but there is some room for some pushing back against snobbery here. Often, though, the classes live in different worlds. Engel's description of Manchester as a place where one of the middle classes need never really see a worker is still pretty true these days. Bear in mind, though, that where American pushbacks against snobbery are often 'I'm as good as them (I think), here it's more a generalised contempt that the working classes have for the entire middle classes and their favoured pursuits 'why would we want to be like them?' All broad brushstrokes, of course
Broad strokes, perhaps, but they ring true.
I think you're right that a bit of experience makes it a lot easier to spot nonsense. I'm not sure how well I'd cope with an entirely online course even at this age. For teenagers it must be very hard, although I suppose they're more used to virtual life than me. I hope your course goes well!
In Ammanford our local town stands the old Victorian Arcade. It's facade has some fine ornamental brickwork that surrounds the doorways and windows of the buildings that face the street. If one looks carefully at one window in particular you will see that one of the ornamental tiles is upside down. It was pointed out to me a few years ago that the builder when erecting this fine building placed the tile on purpose. It was said that 'He was pleased with his work yes, but only the Almighty can claim perfection'.
In contrast just behind stands the 'Poundstretcher' a monolith to mediocrity.
What a great story! A sadly typical contrast through. It's hard to imagine what some future archaeologist would make of the architectural changes of the last century or so.
When and if Sanity is ever restored I can only think the future archeologist will react with bafflement and by shaking his head at the folly of Man.
Interesting, I particularly like the Sphinx.
I also see the decline and broadening of universities as very visible in their Ikea-ised appearance
A bit more about the hideous architecture side of things. I've worked 10 years or so in academia, down in the South East, as a wretched administrator type of person. Until two years ago there was always a building site (sometimes two) somewhere nearby where some identikit monolith, mostly reminiscent of stacked shipping containers if a little shinier, took shape. An Economics block, a Medical School, prestigious new <s>airport terminal</s> home for the Business School....
I ended up working in the last of these, a grandiose £25m+ battery hen shed where, no matter how many times you walked around the corridors, you ended up turning left when you meant to turn right. Everything the same apart from a few brave tenured souls who rebelliously posted UCU posters on their doors. (It was forbidden to post notices or stick up posters: there were large high-wattage plasma screens for displaying IMPORTANT STUFF 24/7. Cafe menus, how to wash your hands, who to email if no one answers the 'phone.)
One of the few things that broke up the homogeny, a little, were some cute curved glass structures on the mezzanine level. These were created to provide that airy/fresh/modern/panopticon setting for all the glossy website photographs. Regrettably these had a tendency to suddenly explode. The gaps would be cordoned off with "Caution: wet floor" boards and yellow and black tape. Some obscure factory in the Czech Republic somewhere, I think, would eventually deliver more sleek curved structures. After much excitement these would be discovered to be a crucial few millimetres too large to fit... etc etc. It really was like working inside a David Lodge novel.
Since then, and mid-Covidmania, I moved to another job in a slightly more established part of the campus: brutalist concrete but the windows DO actually open. Which is just as well as the heating system is stuck "on" for three-quarters of the year.
I hope the job advert said 'wretched administrator'!
Your description sounds a bit like a picture of hell, especially because the one bit of beauty unpredictably explodes; and I suspect 'glossy website photographs' is probably the main criterion for all architectural decisions made by universities these days.
And of course you can't be allowed to control the heating in your own part of the workplace. I've seen that in numerous places through the years, and it always struck me as revealing an organisation that just fundamentally doesn't trust you.
Thank you Mr. F. A poetic read. But I hope its not as bad as you write - I have a son about to study philosophy at a British university. I will be sure to ask him abou the syllabus,
If he's there to study and not to work, I think he can avoid the worst of it just so long as he doesn't let the university be his whole world. I think philosophy (at least at undergraduate level) tends to be a bit less insular than many other courses too: you're still expected to engage seriously with thinkers from very different times.
There's nothing wrong with uprooting 18 year olds.
Think of the Amish tradition of Rumspringa.
The point is that they have to have a solid, cohesive culture to return to once they've done their gadding about and are ready to settle into adulthood.
The uprooting isn't so much the going itself as what they are going to and what they socially learn there. I left home younger than university students, but to work. Plenty of people my age in my social groups back then, but plenty of older folk at work (and then socially) too.
Lecturers aren't in a position to fulfil the role that older work colleagues took for me. Even if they had the time, they are mostly personally incapable. Those under fifty or so have generally never experienced anything but the extended rootlessness of the university itself.
"Now a university is just a machine for uprooting humanity" is quite a line!
Thanks! I keep returning to your piece that I linked too, so thanks for that too.
Deeply poignant, and given added depth by the long quotation from that yearning, elegiac Anglo-Saxon poem. Were you a student of literature?