Comments on: Picture of a House – toward the ethnography of the academia https://allegralaboratory.net/picture-of-a-house-toward-the-ethnography-of-the-academia/ Anthropology for Radical Optimism Mon, 18 Jan 2016 12:47:44 +0000 hourly 1 By: Miia Halme-Tuomisaari https://allegralaboratory.net/picture-of-a-house-toward-the-ethnography-of-the-academia/#comment-75786 Mon, 18 Jan 2016 12:47:44 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=17318#comment-75786 Warm thanks for these comments Thibaud, very welcome clarifications! It would actually be wonderful to continue and expand this discussion – we have not really had that many debates on academic aesthetics, novel expectations of efficiency, genuine changes in academic working cultures. It is true that us academics may at times be too conservative in our mindsets. For example, we collectively loath the open office, yet it is undisputed that we travel a lot more than ever before. Thus having a row of empty offices – often in buildings situated at very expensive locations – makes no sense. Is our resistance for change well warranted – or should we push ourselves outside our comforts zones also? Whatever can be said of the Graduate Institute, this much is undisputed: it is a remarkable investment in scholarly life, on numerous levels!

]]> By: thibaud https://allegralaboratory.net/picture-of-a-house-toward-the-ethnography-of-the-academia/#comment-75776 Sun, 17 Jan 2016 16:06:57 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=17318#comment-75776 While I agree with some of the things mentioned here, it would be nice, for the sake of being more balanced, if you mentioned to environmental footprint MDP has. It is extremely low.

Also, FYI, with the press of a button, the users of the building can override the shutters at any time they wish.

]]> By: Miia Halme-Tuomisaari https://allegralaboratory.net/picture-of-a-house-toward-the-ethnography-of-the-academia/#comment-75740 Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:52:30 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=17318#comment-75740 Thanks Judith! You have a point – a great one! Indeed, there might be something much larger at play here, something embodying indeed elements of our ‘contemporary condition’! Looking forward to many further exchanges on this!

]]> By: Judith Beyer https://allegralaboratory.net/picture-of-a-house-toward-the-ethnography-of-the-academia/#comment-75735 Fri, 15 Jan 2016 10:55:57 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=17318#comment-75735 Great article, Miia. Just wanted to say that churches, too, resemble corporate headquarters – think of the American mega church events. Their services take place in sports stadiums – likewise, one of the most prestigious academic talks these days – the TED – is a mega event witnessed by an audience larger than any university hall could hold. So there might be more to explore in terms of the parallelisms between the global ecumene and the global education industry (see also Hannertz 1989). Both seem to have outgrown regular “houses” …

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