Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2004 Dysacademia in the Ivory Towers: Performativity, Discipline, Control & Chaotically Moving Towards the Shadows of the 3Rd Educational Spaces Paul René Geisler Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Geisler, Paul René, "Dysacademia in the Ivory Towers: Performativity, Discipline, Control & Chaotically Moving Towards the Shadows of the 3Rd Educational Spaces" (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 580. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/580 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DYSACADEMIA IN THE IVORY TOWERS: PERFORMATIVITY, DISCIPLINE, CONTROL & CHAOTICALLY MOVING TOWARDS THE SHADOWS OF THE 3RD EDUCATIONAL SPACE(S) by PAUL RENÉ GEISLER (Under the Direction of John Weaver) ABSTRACT This theoretical inquiry is based upon an archeological and genealogical deconstruction of the character, utility and state of being of the modern university in the United States. In introducing Dysacademia as an apt metaphor for today’s dysfunctional academy, the current discursive analysis describes the various affects and effects that neoliberalism, performativity, discipline, and control have had upon the inorganic institutions of higher learning, and upon its primary subjective concerns, the organic constituents otherwise known as the professorate and the student body. As a follow up to this Ivory Tower deconstruction, a reconstructive enunciation is shaped using a conglomeration of postmodern, open systems, chaos, and poststructural theories to highlight the recursive potential that philosophy, cultural studies, and popular culture contain for opening undetermined and turbulent spaces that hold the promise and potential to expand the University’s undertakings regarding learning, culture, social engagement, critical epistemology, and authentic and reflexive ontology. INDEX WORDS: Higher education, Neoliberalism, Deconstruction, Postmodernism, Poststructuralism DYSACADEMIA IN THE IVORY TOWERS: PERFORMATIVITY, DISCIPLINE, CONTROL & CHAOTICALLY MOVING TOWARDS THE SHADOWS OF THE 3RD EDUCATIONAL SPACE(S) by PAUL RENÉ GEISLER B.S., Marietta College, 1987 M.A., University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, 1990 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Paul René Geisler All Rights Reserved DYSACADEMIA IN THE IVORY TOWERS: PERFORMATIVITY, DISCIPLINE, CONTROL & CHAOTICALLY MOVING TOWARDS THE SHADOWS OF THE 3RD EDUCATIONAL SPACE(S) by Paul René Geisler Major Professor: John Weaver Committee: William M. Reynolds Marla Morris Charles J. Hardy Electronic Version Approved: Charles Hardy Dean of the College of Graduate Studies May 2004. DEDICATION Because without family I am essentially an island unto my own, this dissertation and all that it represents is dedicated to the closest members of my nuclear family. To my talented and compassionate sons, Nicholas and Benjamin, I dedicate this work to you in modest recognition of my heartfelt gratitude for all you have sacrificed as I have worked towards completing this endeavor. You have demonstrated extreme patience and understanding despite receiving less of my time, energy and attention over the last several years. The untainted magnanimity you have demonstrated during this lengthy duration has been a constant source of inspiration for me, and for this I am grateful. I also hope that the various trials and tribulations that have colored my erudite journey will provide life-long inspiration to you both. As you partake in your respective learning experiences in the time and spaces to come, may your voyage be as rewarding and exhilarating as has been mine. To my mother, friend, and original teacher, Joyce C. Geisler, I dedicate this work to you for the myriad implicit and explicit chattels you have taught me over the years of my life. Without you, I couldn’t possibly even begin to appreciate the true meaning of perseverance…culture…loyalty…commitment…sacrifice…or love. For doing everything in your capacity to show me the real power of education, and the joie de vivre that makes life vivid and intrinsically rewarding; and for the many sacrifices you have made in the interest of my erudition, I thank you. For providing me the open space(s) to be me…and to become me…I love you…more than simple words can ever convey. To my departed father, Klaus D. Geisler, I dedicate this to your memory for showing me the true meaning and manifestation of honesty, integrity, passion, pride, and individual responsibility. It is largely because of you that I have grown to fully realize and appreciate that a person must not only “talk the talk”, but also “walk the walk” in order to achieve respect. It was you who taught me that anything worth “doing” requires the best effort available, all the time, regardless of the circumstances and difficulties. For instilling in me a work ethic that is chiefly responsible for the modest accomplishments I have achieved thus far in my life, I thank you wholeheartedly. I can only hope that time reveals similar, and authentic traits and values in my two sons. To my best friend, confidant, lover and life companion, Susan, I dedicate this to you with fervor and heartwarming pride. Words alone cannot possibly express the sincere gratitude and warmth I hold for you, for the profound affect you have upon me, and for what you symbolize as the central spirit and life force in my world. Perhaps, I can modestly hope you are able to appreciate a fraction of the intense reverence and gratefulness I possess for you. Susan, you have enthusiastically and tirelessly demonstrated and provided more compassion, support, enthusiasm, humor, humility, and sacrifice on my behalf, than any one person rightfully deserves. There is no doubt whatsoever that I would have never come close to completing this endeavor, if not for the incredible spirit, optimism, family commitment, and love you have habitually confirmed since the day I first met you. For being the cohesive force that has held our family’s collective spirit together, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and from the deepest aspects of my soul. Our affaire de Coeur continues unabashed because of you, and the intense joie de vivre that you bring to my life each day you are with me. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee for their unwavering and loyal support, scholarly expertise, and mentorship during the process of writing this manuscript. To my friend, mentor and colleague Charlie Hardy, it is indeed incontrovertible that I would not even be here, if not for you, your friendship, and your vision. We first met in the university, you “returned” me to the university, and then you motivated, mentored, and inspired me to make my mark in academia. I thank you for the academic, personal and spiritual inspiration you continue to provide me in this, our second “go around”. To Marla Morris, I thank you for being the initial “unsettling force” in my doctoral experiences, for disturbing the cobwebs that entrapped my slumbering consciousness, and for setting me adrift in a river of turbulence that effectively set the stage for what was to come. William M. Reynolds, I thank you for immersing me into the astonishing and brilliant world of postmodern and poststructural thinking, and thus for profoundly changing the way that I see and experience the world…forever. Thank you also for nourishing my curiosity, for genuinely respecting my interests, ignorance(s), perspectives and ambitions, and for teaching me how to “think” and work. To my advisor and friend, John Weaver, thank you for the many books and articles you generously and unhesitatingly lent me, for your genuine respect and support during both good times and bad, for the companionship we shared throughout the process, and for the confidence you have shown in my academic abilities and intellectual vii potential. To me, you are a true intellectual and a renaissance academic, one of a dying breed in the modern University, and from this, I have gained inspiration. You have taught me what it means to be “weird”, and thus have inspired me to be weird too, and to actively seek weirdness in my work and in my being. Lastly, but certainly not least I would like to acknowledge the tutoring, love, friendship, and respect that my brother, Dr. Marc S. Geisler, provided me during the tenure of my doctoral studies. Marc, you have continually been my inspiration and my sounding board for ideas, both new and old. It was you who first explained postmodern and poststructural theory to me; thank you for showing me the power of difference, and for helping to illuminate the other in me. It has repeatedly been you who has said the right thing, sent the right e-mail, or given me the right compliment to keep me going when my energy was waning when my motivation was beginning to wander towards easier endeavors. As a scholar, an academic, an intellectual, and most importantly, as a human