The narratives that define our culture are subtle sometimes. We all like the shared belief that hard work has good outcomes. For instance, you go to school to get a job. If you work hard in your job, you’ll have a good life, live in your own house and achieve your dreams. We teach these […] … learn more→

“She’s more crazy than she is female.” So declared a senior student in a furious critique of Sylvia Plath’s poetry. The classroom was entirely male, myself included. As the teacher, I mediated discussion but had come to expect opposition to conversations about gender in the all-boys’ Sydney private school. My research into the presumptive biases […] … learn more→

Can we conduct activist research in universities? This is one of the questions that invites us to take a closer look at the controversy launched by the Minister of Higher Education, asking the National Assembly on February 16 that “a review of all the research” be launched. which take place at the university, in order to distinguish “what […] … learn more→

North Carolina Central University, a historically Black college, announced in February that its men’s baseball team – which formed in 1911 – would cease to exist after this season. The school’s athletic director called it “one of the most disappointing days in my career.” University leaders concluded that financial shortfalls due to COVID-19 were too much to support the […] … learn more→

Imagine that you are meeting someone at home, and while you are waiting, something prompts you to go in and out to see if that person is coming. Only if you speak an Inuit language will you have a word – iktsuarpok – to express that feeling between anticipation and impatience. The writer and illustrator Ella Frances Sanders collects this […] … learn more→

Higher education has long been associated with the promise of a good life. Participation, however, has no guarantees. Former prime minister Gough Whitlam argued that Australia’s higher education system was not straightforwardly a “great instrument for the promotion of equality”. Instead, it mainly functioned as “a weapon for perpetuating inequality and promoting privilege”. Scholars, too, have demonstrated […] … learn more→

Last year I wrote a post called How do I write the discussion section? This post was in response to an analysis of blog traffic which showed that 75% of the writing related searches that led people to the Thesis Whisperer wanted to know about this section of the thesis. The discussion section is the ‘problem child’ of […] … learn more→

With “Islamo-leftism” , the public debate turns to muddled controversy, and to controversy that is not very scientific. Couldn’t we approach things differently, and back up the reflection and the positions taken on rigorous knowledge and precise information? Wouldn’t that be better than political statements and repeated petitions in which there are tens or hundreds and over the […] … learn more→

Colleges and universities across the U.S. have been taking a hard look at their ties to slavery. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Back in 2006, Brown University published a report showing that the university – from its construction to its endowment – participated in and benefited from the slave trade and slavery. And since then, […] … learn more→

On the 18th of July 2018, I got a message, through the contact form on my website, from Richard Phillips who had a University of Sheffield email address. The message was brief, and said: “Dear Helen, I would like to explore the possibility of involving you in a workshop on creative writing and social research, and […] … learn more→