Complicit: On Being a WGSS Program Director in the Neoliberal University

Abstract

The notion of our complicity in an oppressive and unjust system is deep. It’s important to crack this idea open and ask: ‘How can women’s and gender studies scholars (maybe all faculty focused on social justice) do the work they need to do to add to knowledge through teaching and research? How do they do this without compromising their values? How can they do this without contributing to a flawed and unjust system?’ Probably they can’t. The complicity comes with the deal.