Akateeminen hengailu

Lumoutumisen tiloja ja radikaalin ajattelun mahdollisuuksia

Abstract

In this paper, I approach the problematics of working in the contemporary neoliberal academic landscape by attending to the implicit non-instrumentality of young people’s hanging out. I argue that the openness toward the world in hanging out entails potential for seeing things anew. When hanging out with their friends, young people participate in the world by meaningfully engaging with things and spaces: they ‘dwell with’ their surroundings. Dwelling with is key to opening up the disrupting event of enchantment, a highly affectual moment of wonder-at-the-world. Although most often characterized by a strong feeling of immersion with one’s surroundings, enchantment is much more than a life affirming moment. It is a radical re-ordering of the world during which there is both a profound loss of meaning and a sudden gaining of significance. This liberatory event of re-cognizing the world is at the core of what I have named ‘hanging-out-knowing’, spatial-embodied reflection that takes place with everything that comes together in the thinking event.