The University as Assemblage

Is the "ivory tower" truly crumbling, or is it just being rearranged? In this episode, we dive into Jana Bacevic’s insightful paper, "With or without U? Assemblage theory and (de)territorializing the university," to challenge everything you thought you knew about higher education. We move beyond the headlines of "dying" universities to explore the institution as a complex assemblage—a living network where digital platforms, global capital, and human actors collide. We’ll break down the technical concepts of territorialization and unbundling to see how modern campuses are stretching their borders across the globe through franchise sites and digital MOOCs. But what happens when those borders get blurry?

We’ll discuss the "boundary disputes" that happen when an academic’s tweet goes viral, using the controversial cases of Steven Salaita and George Ciccariello-Maher to illustrate how universities "reterritorialize" to protect their brand. Join us as we ask: what is a university in the 21st century, and where does the institution end and the rest of the world begin

#AssemblageTheory #HigherEducation #Territorialisation #Unbundling #SocialMedia #AcademicFreedom #JanaBacevic