The slow professor: challenging the culture of speed in the academy, by Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber

Abstract

This paper explores the principles of the Slow Movement to counter work-stress among university and college teachers. We believe that a Slow approach to teaching and learning may be the most effective way to counter the erosion of humanistic education by the corporate ethos of consumerism, efficiency, accountability, and standardisation We explore the principles of Slow not only to counter the consumer model of education but also to foster better teachers and learners. It is well-documented that changes in academic work have created significant stress among academic teachers (Catano, Francis, Haines, Kirpalani, Shannon, Stringer, & Lozanksi, 2007; Miller, Buckholdt & Shaw, 2008), and students (Dabney, 1995; Brown & Ralph 1999; Rowbotham and Julian 2006), but what requires further attention is the link between the corporate reliance on efficiency and the problem of lack of time in learning and teaching. Corporatisation has sped up the clock. The Slow Movement—originating in the Slow Food Movement—has gained recognition as a way to resist both globalization and the frantic pace of contemporary life. While slowness has been lauded in architecture, business, urban life and interpersonal relations, among others, it has yet to be applied to academia. Yet, if there is one sector of society that should be cultivating deep thought in themselves and others it is academic teachers. The consumerism that has taken hold in higher education propels the belief that time is money, resulting in superficial learning (Coté & Allahar, 2011b; Readings, 1996). Perhaps the most damaging effect of corporatisation in the universities is that individual educators feel paralysed in the face of overwhelming odds. Our focus on individuals and their own professional practice is conceived as political resistance to corporatisation.

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The Slow Professor: C
hallenging the Culture of Speed in the
Academy
Journal:
Academy of Management Learning & Education
Manuscript ID
AMLE-2017-0282-BRR
Manuscript Type:
Book & Resource Reviews - BY INVITATION ONLY
Submission Keywords:
Strategy Education, Management education
Academy of Management Learning & Education

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Copyright Academy of Management Learning and Education
Reviews
The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy
By Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber, 2016. 115 pages, paperback. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press.
Reviewed by Oliver Laasch, University of Nottingham Ningbo China and Center for
Responsible Management Education (email: olaasch@responsiblemanagement.net )
“The Slow Professor” is the first book bringing together slow principles, as in slow food or slow
fashion, with a concern for the acceleration of academia. The authors, Maggie Berg and Barbara
Seeger, provide a thought-provoking critical appraisal of academic life, with a clear political
agenda to slow it down, one professor at a time.
In the book’s preface, the authors prime readers with “The Slow Professor Manifesto,”
outlining the motivation and main tenets of slow professorship. Then, in the introductory chapter
they make a case for de-accelerating academic life for the wellbeing of all involved in order to,
ultimately, fulfil the purpose of the academic profession. Chapter 1, “Time Management and
Timelessness,” includes a discussion about how common approaches to time management,
centred on doing more in less time and on multitasking, fall short in the academic context. The
authors build upon this context to propose a type of time management through which faculty
members embrace the ultimate goal of doing less, in order to create spaces for “timeless time”
where one can be fully and deeply immersed in meaningful academic pursuits. Chapters 2-4 are
dedicated to describing slowness in particular areas of academic practices. For example, in
Chapter 2, titled “Pedagogy and Pleasure,” Berg and Seeger discuss how to slow-teach in order
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to make teaching more enjoyable and meaningful for both educators and students. In Chapter 3,
“Research and Understanding,” they highlight the importance of “slow knowledge” (p.58)
development, necessitating a non-linear, iterative process of research that naturally takes time.
As a final example, in Chapter 4 titled “Collegiality and Community,” the authors question the
mutual instrumentalisation of colleagues seeing each other as resources for quick career
progression. Rather than using this approach, they suggest fostering a collegiality that serves as a
holding environment, with the improvement of the welfare of all involved as both its purpose and
outcome. In each of these chapters, the authors not only question the acceleration in key
practices of academic life, but also provide actionable practical advice. Finally, in the concluding
chapter, Chapter 5, titled ”Collaboration and Thinking Together,” the authors include a reflection
on the characteristics of the slow process between themselves that ultimately led to the creation
of this book.
In my reading of “The Slow Professor,” I encountered two main messages. First, there
was a clear message of humanism via a concern for human wellbeing and flourishing which
originates in the authors’ focus on academics’ stress and overwork. I was pleased to discover that
they also shared a message of concern for the wellbeing of people academics relate to, most
prominently students in “humanistic education” (p. ix). This humanistic message is visible across
academic practices, from listening to students and understanding their emotions, to the pleasure
derived from teaching and the self-actualization of doing meaningful research, as well as the
relational aspect of a flourishing academic community. The message of humanism is also visible
in a number of sub-themes, such as personal becoming, mindfulness and a healthy work-life
balance. The second message is more on an individual-level: professorial activism against the
trend towards managerialism and its resultant “corporatization of higher education” (p. ix) in
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universities. The authors present these trends as the root causes of acceleration and
homogenization of academic life through an emphasis on efficiency, measurable progress (e.g.,
through annual reviews), narrow publication standards, time-consuming managerial meetings,
and the standardization of research assessment, to mention a few. Berg and Seeber’s argument is
that these developments threaten the fulfillment of the societal role of professors and universities
to co-create deep, diverse, and critical knowledge. Becoming a slow professor is positioned as a
protest against “corporatization” and its “culture of speed” (p. x). I believe, these arguments are
particularly relevant in the business school context. As business school professors, we may be
more prone to accept corporatization and managerialism as givens than faculty in other
disciplines. After all, they are two topics that serve, for many of us, as central tenets of our
studies.
Upon reflection, I have come to realize that I am a fast professor. However, my reading
of this book was motivated by an emerging appreciation that being fast might be problematic and
create manifold tensions in my life. Working in the area of sustainable development, I constantly
feel the need to speed up, driven by a feeling of urgency that we are running out of time to solve
the world’s social and environmental issues. I am sufficiently egomaniacal to believe I can make
a difference, albeit a small one, through research and teaching. Opportunities to do so appear to
be everywhere. This means I work on too many projects, with too many people at the same time.
I ruthlessly prioritize one project over another based on their potential impact. My days are
fragmented into neat work packages, which I tend to complete. I do not like disruptions, no
matter how well-intended, or socially desirable they may be. I start working while still in bed
before the sun rises, and keep going just as long as concentration and social commitments allow
throughout day, regularly “finishing up one more thing” just before falling asleep. I love goals
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and don’t mind personal hardship to achieve them. Superiors and colleagues have described me
with adjectives like “fast paced,” “productive,” “reliable,” and “hard working;” all of which
perfectly describe what Berg and Seeger critically call the “machine” (p. 58). Through my life of
constant drive, I now realize that I have a deep longing for de-acceleration, exacerbated by past
episodes of stress-related illness. Reading, reflecting on, and discussing “The Slow Professor”
has helped me to channel a creeping feeling of exhaustion and emerging discontent into a deeper
reflection about what to change and most importantly, why! While only a portion of faculty will
identify themselves with my self-reflection, it exemplifies the potential use of the book for self-
reflection and understanding more broadly, by slow and fast professors and for everyone in
between.
For colleagues who already embrace practices of slowness in their academic lives, the
book may serve to legitimize and defend their “slowness” with the well-researched arguments
made by Berg and Seeger. The book may also be used to review and possibly improve ones’
slow practices, using the very hands-on “practical advice” checklists (e.g. p. 84) that highlight
key aspects of slow teaching, research, and collegiality. I am thinking about printing out these
lists and hanging them on my office wall, to remind me of slowing down, to do fewer, but more
meaningful, things in more time. This may remind me to take time, for instance, to feel the
pleasant anticipation experienced during teaching preparation; to really read key papers and to
enjoy the ideas; to become deeply immersed in conversations with students and to find joy in
exploring how to contribute to their development and help them flourish. I have begun to
cultivate a habit of saying no to less meaningful activities, to free time for the things that matter,
and I am beginning to learn to accept the consequences.
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I genuinely enjoyed the book’s focus on academic practices organized under the larger
areas of teaching, researching, and collegiality while also including individual practices like class
preparation, marking, or “the walk to the library” (p. 66). The book’s how-to advice and
actionable implications are thoroughly grounded in critical reflection and based on extant
literature, both theoretical and empirical. The book is engaging and radiates the authors’ passion
for slowness. Sometimes, I would have liked to see a broader selection of issues and topics, in a
bit less of an auto-ethnographic style. For instance, I found myself wondering for what
percentage of the book’s readership is stage fright in teaching a major concern justifying its
extensive coverage. That being said, writing a book is often a personal expression of oneself, and
might lose authenticity if there was an attempt to cover things that the authors had not lived
themselves. Berg and Seeber make explicit the collaborative nature of the book project and share
their voices through a first person narrative, particularly in Chapters 2 (on teaching) and chapter
3 (on research). However, at times, I found myself struggling to understand who was speaking
and from what perspective. In my opinion, Chapter 4 on collegiality might have been set up with
a somewhat broader coverage. After the deep discussions on teaching and research in Chapters 3
and 4, I was looking for a chapter that covered a wider range of other academic practices. The
narrow, albeit important, focus on collegiality left me wanting for more. Also, in comparison to
previous chapters, Chapter 4 falls a bit short in terms of actionable advice, which appears to have
been added more as an afterthought, as one of the “anonymous reviewers expressed
disappointment at their absence” (p. 84). In the end, these are minor points in the context of a
highly contributory book.
Overall, I believe “The Slow Professor” will be an exciting and engaging read for
everyone interested in the acceleration of academic life. As compliments to this book, for readers
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who want to learn more about the underlying themes of becoming a slow professor,, I would
recommend “In Praise of Slow” (Honoré, 2009), a seminal publication of the slow movement.
Additionally, to extend the humanistic argument as it relates to the development of both
professors and students, I recommend the humanistic management education book “Business
Schools under Fire” (Amann, Pirson, Dierksmeier, Von Kimakowitz, & Spitzeck, 2011), and
“The Knowledge Factory” for a critical appraisal of the corporatization of universities
(Aronowitz, 2000). It is surely time for each of us to take a moment to pause, reconsider, and
appreciate the possibilities of becoming slow.
REFERENCES
Amann, W., Pirson, M., Dierksmeier, C., Von Kimakowitz, E., & Spitzeck, H. 2011. Business
schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Aronowitz, S. 2000. The knowledge factory: Dismantling the corporate university and creating
true higher learning: Beacon Press.
Honoré, C. 2009. In praise of slow: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of
speed. Toronto: Vintage Canada.
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