The University of Hope

Is the University as we know it dead? Monika Kostera thinks not, but across the globe universities are under attack, be it by external forces or from within. Will they survive? Our civilisation requires that they must: planetary survival and sustainability depend on them. This book provides vital resources to give us all - professional academics, students, and university administrators - hope that universities will emerge renewed out of the current crisis. As this inspiring work shows, the practice of academic virtues can enable us to cultivate the awareness of the common good that academia serves: the preservation and development of humanity's potential of knowledge. Drawing on a rich variety of ideas, theories, empirical cases, real and fictitious stories, as well as examples and images from art and literature, Monika Kostera demonstrates the splendid complexity of academic ecosystems. It is through looking for hope for the university that we find hope for society and the planet. In suggesting tangible steps for restoring a sense of meaning to academic work and the collegial community worldwide, The University of Hope shows us a path out of the darkness.

1 - Kindness: Re-connecting with the foundation
2 - Diligence: Beyond productivity
3 - Patience: To see more clearly
4 - Temperance: Against frantic emptiness
5 - Chastity: Celebrating desire
6 - Humility: Staying connected in a world of fierce competition
7 - Collegiality: Against greed (which is not good)
8 - Redemption and Renaissance

Monika Kostera is a Professor in Sociology and Management at Warsaw University, as well as Professor in Management at Södertörn University, Sweden, and is affiliated with LITEM, l'Université Évry Val-d'Essonne, France. She has also been employed as professor and chair at UK universities. She writes and publishes texts on organization and management, as well as poetry. She is Associate Editor at Gender, Work and Organization and Culture & Organization, and has been co-editing several journals including British Journal of Management. Her current research interests include organizational imagination, disalienated work, and organizational ethnography.