Sara Ahmed: On Complaint
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- What does it mean, and what does it cost, to make a complaint? This question is at the heart of Sara Ahmed’s research into institutional power and forms the basis of this lecture.
In 2016 the acclaimed British-Australian academic resigned from her prestigious post as Professor of Race and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her resignation was in protest against the university’s failure to address the problem of sexual harassment.
Ahmed - whose work embraces feminist, queer and race studies - has since embarked on a new research project, outside institutional academia, that was sparked by the bruising experience of trying to improve the university’s complaints process. Her new study, drawing on oral and written testimony from dozens of complainants, has much to teach us about the structures and mechanisms of institutional power. It’s a timely topic during this moment of reinvigorated feminism and reports of systemic harassment on Australian university campuses.
Bravo!! I loved "a leak can become a lead," leading us to others who suffer. I loved the "scratches on the wall" that we can leave behind for others. Thank you for your presentation, your book, and your research!! BRAVO!
Great video content. I relate to this so much. There are so many power dynamics in making a complaint and they highlight the extent of oppression, inequalities & organisational complicity and 'pulling rank' to silence complaints.
This is really interesting. As a trans person it is so hard to think and talk about these dynamics because it feels like it automatically invalidates my identity and pegs me as wrong gender and all that goes with that... Interesting to think about what it means to complain as a cis person and a trans person, as a man, woman, or nonbinary person. Feels like it is a challenge to complain or stick up for a person who has a valid complaint for different reasons for each of these identities.
Totally.
Sara Ahmed you're the best!
What an incredible speech, it feels like she knows my situation exactly, even though she said this 5 years before it even happened.
Bureaucratic process that let s the perpetrators off the hook
I just tried the complaint system in the NHS and two men told me that what they do is perfectly normal and acceptable when dealing with patients - so there you go! That’s what they said about Jimmy Savile and nhs staff turned a blind eye on the NHS even though he was using apartments free to molest and sexually assault children so if you don’t speak up then it Carries on. However, there are many senior managers in high places that don’t want to lose their jobs or their chrony friends in high places. So nepotism is still rife - the senior people that I dealt with are on £150,000 + a year of taxpayers money. They denied what I had said
Wow such a mixture of an accent... mostly Australian and British! Certainly the first kind I have ever heard!
Discrimination law is the way to go
This is a logical cogent argument and we should never be forced by anyone to follow forced laws and behaviours by either side or groups to only listen to one voice by coercion. The mechanism in democracy is to discuss, debate and discussion of all viewpoints and arguments. No, it is not a complaint ….that is not the academic process of listening and synthesising arguments. Goes to show how critical intellectual study and development is or emotional outbursts become based on one viewpoint taken over by the Twitter mob. A few voices suddenly become the norm. I m supposed to accept that my voice is not important having won the vote. I ll never succumb to someone else telling me how to live my life as a disabled woman. I relish reading, debating and working out what the real issues are by constructing a point to be debated. It is not just about complaints - it is the way the bureaucrats hide behind the system and avoid addressing people directly - she was not saying her view was more than important - that is not what she is saying at all. It is the avoidance of complaints by the system managers who have nothing to do with the individual. You’ve missed the point completely
She is a scholar…her accent is irrelevant