Intra-action between academics and their areas of expertise in the quest for social equality in academia and society: a posthuman perspective

This article uses a posthuman perspective to analyse the intertwined relationship between some academics as social beings and their areas of expertise. It focuses on the intra-action between the academics and their areas of expertise to express their self-perception, resist essentialist discourses of who they are experienced as within the university setting and advocate for social justice both at the university and in wider society. Using empirical evidence from this study, linguistic, racial and religious discrimination in academia based on perceptions of accent, ‘race’ and religion are uncovered. The study also reveals intra-action between the academics and their areas of expertise to make themselves, including their social and organisational environment, happen by moving beyond stereotypical understanding of the world. The study argues for the need to acknowledge the pertinence of social issues such as ‘race’ in British higher education, rather than viewing them as irrelevant to academia. The study contributes to the existing literature on inequality and higher education by reimagining a just higher education and society using a posthumanist lens. It also has implications for policy in terms of the contribution of a single-language policy and the predominance of ‘Whiteness’ in higher education in creating and perpetuating perceptions of diversity as a problem rather than a resource for growth and bridging gaps between communities.