CARE OBFUSCATION AS THE PERFORMANCE OF VERTICALITY: THE POSTURAL GEOMETRIES OF (DESIRING) ACADEMIC PARENTS
Our doctoral thesis concerns the conceptualisation, mobilisation and obfuscation of care in academic professions in the UK. In presenting the findings of our qualitative investigation into 41 UK-based academics’ experiences of the transition to (desired) parenthood, we trace the philosophical and sociological factors that shape such conceptualisations, and which frame and govern academic working conditions. The ideas presented draw particular inspiration from Adriana Cavarero’s (2016) examination of the masculine legacies central to much western modern philosophy. Whilst governing rationalities in neoliberal societies revere what Cavarero calls a kind of “verticality” – an analogy for the autonomous and self-sufficient Kantian man – the extent to which this posture is attainable is undermined by the gravitational pull of co-existence. Recognising how the potential for verticality is normatively assigned to the white, able-bodied, cis-gendered male, we argue that postural presentation is political, and, furthermore, that the alienating effects of this politicisation are acute during the transition to parenthood. The construct of uprighteousness captivates modern academia, and is expressed through the routine recruitment, promotion and celebration of scholars deemed capable of engaging in uninterrupted contributions to knowledge construction and exchange. Although these traditions exclude and obscure the presence of those with practical “inclinations” towards others, empirical insights from the collected data suggest that some (desiring) academic parents perform verticality by way of “care obfuscation.” Care obfuscation refers to the tendency to deny, underestimate or obscure the influence of care responsibilities and/or caring desires on one’s ability to meet the expectations of academic work. Mobilising this notion as a kind of theoretical provocation, we identify three functions of obfuscation in academic work: (1) it denotes an “enterprising” bid for professional survival; (2) it is an attempt to sustain “optimism” (Berlant, 2011) and class status; (3) it serves as a form of “feminist refusal” (Honig, 2021). In addition to being symptomatic of verticality’s political and cultural longevity, obfuscation is a sign of enduring postural elasticity and a fundamental reliance on care that cannot be eradicated. To ameliorate inequalities experienced by academic parents, researchers, campaigners and policymakers within higher education institutions and beyond should therefore start not from a desire to pull inclined academics up, but from a willingness to debunk the highly rationalised yet fallible notion of the upright scholar.
Qualitative research, Parenthood, Motherhood, metascience, Academia
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