Mapping Anti-Precarity Projects in Education in Europe and Beyond
Our anti-precarity questionnaire is now live, please complete and share widely! Link here: https://forms.gle/2rpH7ZdRpYKhxBea9
The Magnetic Ideals Collective are very excited to work with the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and the PrecAnthro Collective on a project that will be mapping anti-precarity projects globally. The research aims to collect information on initiatives, policies and actions being taken to address problems of casualisation and precarity in Europe and beyond. In doing so it is looking to engage with a variety of groups including collectives, pressure or lobby groups, unions, academic organisations, funding bodies and ministries.
If you are involved in an anti-precarity work or anti-casualisation work please help us by filling in this questionnaire and sharing it across your networks!
Background
In 2020, the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) published a report on the career trajectories of anthropologists in Europe (Fotta et al 2020) This report, a collaboration between EASA and the PrecAnthro Collective, sought to raise awareness about the challenges of developing a career in anthropology, the exploitation of junior researchers and growing casualisation within academia more generally. A further important initiative related to this was the drafting of ethical authorship guidelines (Tilche & Astuti 2020). This new research aims to build on the findings and recommendations of these documents by examining how other disciplines are engaging with the issues and challenges of precarity and casualisation.
Research Outline
The project will be looking to document the policies and practices different associations or institutions have adopted to mitigate casualisation. We will be looking to provide illustrations and examples of best practices, seeking out and sharing case studies that highlight significant or interesting initiatives.
The research will investigate measures aiming to mitigate casualisation in policy and strategy in organisations that might deal with resistance (collectives, pressure/lobby groups, unions) and others traditionally focused mainly on internal disciplinary matters such as academic organisations. It will also look more broadly at funding bodies, policy-making and governmental bodies, where policy and statute decisions occur.
We are distributing this questionnaire widely to get an idea of the breadth of anti-precarity and anti-casualisation initiatives. We will also be conducting a number of interviews with groups and individuals involved in these initiatives. Please either complete the details of your initiative by completing the questionnaire here or emailing precarity@magneticideals.org if you would like to be involved.
The project will be led by our research consultant Dr Heather McKnight who specialises in research on union resistance in education. If would like any further information about the project, or would like to share information about anti-precarity or anti-casualisation work you have been involved with please contact us at the project email: precarity@magneticideals.org or if you prefer to liaise directly with the lead research consultant please contact: heather@magneticideals.org
Resources
Throughout the process of the research, we hope to gather and share information as we find it. You can view tweets from precarious initiatives we have identified by following the Precarious Workers Resist Twitter feed, and research we have collected on our Zotero Anti-Precarity Library. We also hope to share exciting case studies on our blog and Twitter @magneticideals . Please email any suggested resources and information to precarity@magneticideals.org
We encourage you to share this project widely in the name of solidarity, empathy, and fair working conditions!