From Bad Apples to Zombies? Walking Dead Leadership in the Contemporary University

Authors

Tara Brabazon

Abstract

Leadership remains an open sewer of assumptions, ego, platitudes and potential. When contextualized within an international university sector struggling and grasping to find a purpose, leadership becomes toxic and dangerous. This article reactivates, challenges and then transforms Ulrich Beck's zombie concept and applies it to university leadership, management and administration. I probe the renegotiation of power and identity, with particular attention to recent scandals and appointments of university ‘leaders.' This article also signals a movement from cosmopolitan sociology to claustropolitan cultural studies, repositioning leadership in universities at the end of the world.

Author Biography

Tara Brabazon, Dean of Graduate Research / Professor of Cultural Studies Flinders University

Tara Brabazon is the dean of graduate research and professor of cultural studies at Flinders University, Australia, fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce and director of the Popular Culture Collective. She has previously held academic positions in the UK, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada, won six teaching awards, published 19 books, written over 200 refereed articles and contributed essays and opinion pieces on higher education and the arts. Her specialties include media literacies, doctoral education, higher education studies, creative industries, city imaging, knowledge economy, information management, information literacy, sonic media, auditory cultures, popular cultural studies and the negotiation of cultural difference.

Recommended Citation

Brabazon, Tara (2020) "From Bad Apples to Zombies? Walking Dead Leadership in the Contemporary University," Fast Capitalism: Vol. 17: Iss. 2, Article 13.
DOI: 10.32855/1930-014X.1245
Available at: https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/fastcapitalism/vol17/iss2/13