Why critique the sacred and the profane in higher education: In conversation with Professor Bruce Macfarlane

This paper contains a conversation with Professor Bruce Macfarlane, a key thinker in debates around what constitutes the sacred and profane in higher education theory and praxis. The authors co-developed questions to ask of Professor Macfarlane as a way to introduce the conceptual framework for the JPHE special issue on ‘critiquing the sacred and the profane in higher education.’ An emergent reflection from our discussion, and the paper that came from it, is the need to confront taken-for-granted dualisms, to stand back from concepts, and critically consider the work concepts that frame our academic lives as they become positioned as ‘sacred’ or ‘profane.’