Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Journal of Sociology
Publisher
Sage
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
70255
Funders
Spencer Foundation
Grant Number
202100306
Abstract
In Australia, regional university campuses occupy a geographically and institutionally peripheral position in a metrocentric higher education system. We argue that the concentration of research funding and capabilities at metropolitan campuses devalues the intellectual labour of academics working on regional university campuses. The authors use collaborative autoethnography to explore a common theme of ‘gap filling’, that is, mobilising scarce resources to create unique solutions for local issues, and draw on Southern Theory to theorise the implications for our work in the location-based power relations of the Australian knowledge production economy. In this context, we utilise Eversole's concept of ‘invisible innovation’ to theorise how the important place-based knowledge work associated with ‘gap filling’ on regional university campuses is rendered invisible by the metrocentric geopolitics of knowledge production within Australia. The research reveals that the place-based knowledge work of regional academics fills gaps in regional services and resources through innovations largely unrecognised within the higher education system.
DOI
10.1177/14407833241252711
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Schmidt, M., Aberdeen, L., Carlon, C., & Eversole, R. (2024). Invisible innovation: Intellectual labour on regional university campuses in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 14407833241252711. https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833241252711