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On the Ethics of Reviewing: A Discussion with Phillip E. Wegner

October 2, 2020 @ 3:00 am - 5:00 pm

On the Ethics of Reviewing

A Discussion with Phillip E. Wegner (U Florida)

Friday, October 2 @ 3:00 PM

 

We all recognize that the academic genre of the review—along with its kin such as the response, reply, and comment—are cornerstones of both our vocation as intellectuals and our professional identities. However, far less often discussed are the nature of our responsibilities to other members of our communities when we engage in these practices. In his response essay, “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Suvinian?: Beyond the Moralizing Temptation; or, How Not to Read,” Dr. Wegner explores some of the challenges involved in these practices and offers the intimations of another ethics of reviewing, responding, replying, and commenting—in short, an ethics of reading—that brushes against the grain of the “competitive thinking” and “race for individual distinction” that have taken hold in the contemporary university. In such competitive thought, as Kathleen Fitzpatrick points out in her inspiring book, Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University (2019), “not only the benefits of higher education but also all of our categories of success (both in educational outcomes and in intellectual achievement) can only ever be personal, private, individual rather than social” (28). Our conversation in this session will build upon Wegner’s essay in the hope that we might begin to imagine an ethics of our practices that will foster more inclusive and welcoming communities and contribute to helping us, as Fitzpatrick further suggests, “live the multiplicity of our academic lives in ways that diverge from the singular path now laid out before us.”

This conversation is open to all graduate students, faculty, and other members of our communities. An RSVP will be required to join the meeting. Participants are also be invited to read beforehand Dr. Wegner’s essay, “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Suvinian?: Beyond the Moralizing Temptation; or, How Not to Read” Utopian Studies 30, no. 2 (2019): 300-344. Digital copies of the essay will be made available.

To RSVP, and to receive the link to register for the event, please contact Mitch R. Murray at m.murray@ufl.edu.

 

Phillip E. Wegner is the Marston-Milbauer Eminent Scholar and Professor of English at the University of Florida, where he has taught since 1994. He is the author of numerous essays and five books, including most recently, Invoking Hope: Theory and Utopia in Dark Times (University of Minnesota Press, 2020).  His website is at https://phillipewegner.org

This event is made possible by the support of the Working Group for the Study of Critical Theory, the Department of English, and the Marston-Milbauer Eminent Scholar.

For further information on the Working Group for the Study of Critical Theory (SCT@UF), see our website at https://sct.english.ufl.edu

Details

Date:
October 2, 2020
Time:
3:00 am - 5:00 pm