I'm interested in the transformation of the power relationship between undergraduates and academics in the current university climate, through the introduction of the opposing subjectivities of traditional learner, partner and consumer. My research uses a dialectical theorisation of systemic and constitutive power to critically examine the comflicting power relationships and subjectivities for undergraduates. I'm using a mixture of Critical Discourse Analysis, semi-structured interviews and observations from two post-1992 universities in England to better understand the ways in which undergraduates are positioned within incompatible subjectivities and how these positionings are working to transform the traditional learner-teacher power relationship within the current university climate.

My research is fully funded by the ESRC.

MA Modern and Contemporary Literature - Birkbeck, University of London

BA English - University of Leicester

Reframing Power Relationships in Higher Education: An Integrated Understanding of Conflicting Power Relationships and Undergraduate Subjectivities in the Current University Climate

e.symonds@lancaster.ac.uk

ellie_symonds@hotmail.com