Naslov
„A truly transformative experience“: the biographical legacy of student protest participation

Autori
Ćulum, Bojana ; Doolan, Karin

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Student Engagement in Europe: society, higher education and student governance

Urednik/ci
M. Klemenčič, S. Bergan, R. Primožič

Izdavač
Vijeće Europe

Grad
Strasbourg

Godina
2015

Raspon stranica
83-97

ISBN
978-92-871-7971-5

Ključne riječi
student protests, biographical impact, habitus, field, liminality, transformation

Sažetak
Dissatisfied with the neoliberal agenda for education, high tuition fees, the increasing commodification of higher education and Bologna Process implementation, students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Rijeka in Croatia “occupied” their faculty for 20 days in 2009, thus joining student movements worldwide inspired by similar grievances. During these 20 days the faculty became their home: they slept on its floors, cooked and ate in its yard, planned and managed various events (lectures, workshops, exhibitions, performances), prepared media releases, organised assemblies and mobilized academic staff. This chapter explores the biographical impact of this experience for a group of students who were interviewed in 2009, on the 20th day of the faculty occupation, and then again four years later, in 2013. Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1977, 1984) concepts of ‘field’ and ‘habitus’ and Turner’s (1969) concept of ‘liminality’, we interpret the protest as a liminal phenomenon characterised by transgression in an otherwise conservative educational field which led to habitus modifications. We have classified the main dimensions of change identified in the interviews as knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, educational and professional trajectories, social networks and personal development. For the interviewed students, the occupation of the faculty building was a period of learning, of “destabilising” and “demystifying” power relations and forging new friendships. They unanimously described their protest experience as transformative.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

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