Conceptualising the Digital University: The

Intersection of Policy, Pedagogy and Practice

Bill Johnston download

https://textbookfull.com/product/conceptualising-the-digital-
university-the-intersection-of-policy-pedagogy-and-practice-bill-
johnston/

Download more ebook from https://textbookfull.com

We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit textbookfull.com
to discover even more!

Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook Loucas

https://textbookfull.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-
loucas/

Acts of Knowing Critical Pedagogy in Against and Beyond

the University Stephen Cowden (Ed.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/acts-of-knowing-critical-
pedagogy-in-against-and-beyond-the-university-stephen-cowden-ed/

The Intersection of Food and Public Health: Current

Policy Challenges and Solutions 1st Edition A. Bryce
Hoflund

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-intersection-of-food-and-
public-health-current-policy-challenges-and-solutions-1st-
edition-a-bryce-hoflund/

Content and Language Integrated Learning in Spanish and

Japanese Contexts: Policy, Practice and Pedagogy Keiko
Tsuchiya

https://textbookfull.com/product/content-and-language-integrated-
learning-in-spanish-and-japanese-contexts-policy-practice-and-
pedagogy-keiko-tsuchiya/
Social Value in Public Policy Bill Jordan

https://textbookfull.com/product/social-value-in-public-policy-
bill-jordan/

Digital Turn in Schools Research Policy Practice

Proceedings of ICEM 2018 Conference Terje Väljataga

https://textbookfull.com/product/digital-turn-in-schools-
research-policy-practice-proceedings-of-icem-2018-conference-
terje-valjataga/

Epilepsy The Intersection of Neurosciences Biology

Mathematics Engineering and Physics Arthurs

https://textbookfull.com/product/epilepsy-the-intersection-of-
neurosciences-biology-mathematics-engineering-and-physics-
arthurs/

The Intersection of Trauma and Disaster Behavioral

Health Katie E. Cherry

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-intersection-of-trauma-and-
disaster-behavioral-health-katie-e-cherry/

Computational Intelligence in Digital Pedagogy Arpan

Deyasi

https://textbookfull.com/product/computational-intelligence-in-
digital-pedagogy-arpan-deyasi/
DIGITAL
EDUCATION
AND LEARNING

CONCEPTUALISING
THE DIGITAL
UNIVERSITY
THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY,
PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE

BILL JOHNSTON,
SHEILA MACNEILL
AND KEITH SMYTH
Digital Education and Learning

Series Editors
Michael Thomas
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, UK

John Palfrey
Phillips Academy
Andover, MA, USA

Mark Warschauer
University of California
Irvine, USA
Much has been written during the first decade of the new millennium
about the potential of digital technologies to produce a transformation of
education. Digital technologies are portrayed as tools that will enhance
learner collaboration and motivation and develop new multimodal liter-
acy skills. Accompanying this has been the move from understanding
literacy on the cognitive level to an appreciation of the sociocultural
forces shaping learner development. Responding to these claims, the
Digital Education and Learning Series explores the pedagogical potential
and realities of digital technologies in a wide range of disciplinary con-
texts across the educational spectrum both in and outside of class.
Focusing on local and global perspectives, the series responds to the shift-
ing landscape of education, the way digital technologies are being used in
different educational and cultural contexts, and examines the differences
that lie behind the generalizations of the digital age. Incorporating cut-
ting edge volumes with theoretical perspectives and case studies (single
authored and edited collections), the series provides an accessible and
valuable resource for academic researchers, teacher trainers, administra-
tors and students interested in interdisciplinary studies of education and
new and emerging technologies.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14952
 Bill Johnston • Sheila MacNeill
Keith Smyth

Conceptualising the
Digital University
The Intersection of Policy, Pedagogy
and Practice
Bill Johnston Sheila MacNeill
School of Psychological Science and Health Academic Quality and Development
University of Strathclyde Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow, UK Glasgow, UK

Keith Smyth
Learning and Teaching Academy
University of the Highlands and Islands
Inverness, UK

Digital Education and Learning

ISBN 978-3-319-99159-7    ISBN 978-3-319-99160-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99160-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957460

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Front cover image © Rainer Mook / Getty

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Foreword

Today’s permanent and increasingly accelerated revolution of technology, the

main bastion of capitalism against socialism, alters socioeconomic reality and
requires a new comprehension of the facts upon which new political action must
be founded. (Paulo Freire 1997)1

Although Paulo Freire penned these words more than twenty year ago,
they actually ring truer today than ever. At a breakneck speed, new tech-
nological gadgets are introduced to the marketplace, as the great societal
panacea of our generation. Technology is touted in even redemptive
terms, akin to religious fervour. The consumerist values of capitalism are
well-embedded into marketing discourses framed around issues of relent-
less competition, heightened productivity, innovation, instrumentalism,
and marketisation. Nowhere has neoliberal technological discourse
become more fierce than in the context of university life. And although
the corrupting force of neoliberalism on universities has been well-docu-
mented over the last three decades, the discourse of economic globalisa-
tion continues to move internationally like hellfire across the reaches of
university life.
With the fallacious promise of time-saving efficiency, our labour
within the university was systematically increased and accelerated by the

1
Freire, P. (1997). Pedagogy of the Heart. New York: Continuum (p. 56).

v
vi Foreword

arbitrary and commonsensical introduction of technological tools that

have held faculty and staff captive. In the midst of this phenomenon, few
critiques or alternatives have been able to interrupt the burgeoning and
disproportionately skewed myths that have deepened managerial and
technicist university practices, meant primarily to harness digital technol-
ogy in the service of the marketplace. In the process, the culturally oppres-
sive epistemology that undergirds values tied to technological practices
has resulted in, as the authors of Conceptualising the Digital University
well confirm, the impoverishment and reductionist account of the digital
university today. It is, then, precisely a systematic and eloquent rethink-
ing of these values and practices—offering, as Freire insists, a new compre-
hension of the facts—that is at the very heart of this volume.

Rethinking the Culture of the Digital

University
Technologized media themselves now constitute Western culture through and
through, and they have become the primary vehicle for the distribution and
dissemination of culture. (Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner)2

Within the life of twenty-first-century universities, we would be hard-

pressed to find a cultural milieu where a Western positivist epistemology
of technology, anchored by extension upon scientific hubris, has not all
but supplanted humanist educational values. This represents a central
concern, in that neutral or depoliticised views of the digital university
ignore or fail to contend with the inseparability that exists between cul-
ture and power. Without the tools for critically examining the manner in
which the expansion of technology has shaped the neoliberal culture of
universities, educators cannot effectively fashion academic spaces where
contradictions to emancipatory visions, as well as partial and competing
viewpoints, can be critically interrogated and transformed. The unfortu-

2
Kahn, R. & D. Kellner (2007). Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich: Technology, Politics, and the
Reconstruction of Education in Policy Futures in Education. V. 5, N. 4 (p. 431).
 Foreword vii

nate consequence here is an inability to politically unsettle through our

pedagogical labour those essentialised or carte blanche approaches to
digital technology that negatively impact the social agency and decision-
making of faculty, students, and the larger community—generally
excluding them from genuine participation in decision-making related to
technology and other issues that directly impact their lives.
In response to these concerns, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth begin
by acknowledging that our understanding of technology has generally
emerged as a discursive construction—where an ‘idea is brought into the
social world by being talked about or written about without necessarily
being subject to analysis or research’3—in their quest for finding an effec-
tive strategy for exploring the digital university. Through forging a criti-
cally profound lens of investigation, they produce a brilliant analysis of
the historical, political, economic, and pedagogical agendas that have
driven the positivist culture of digital technology in ways that have
betrayed emancipatory and pluralistic visions of university life. What
results is a complex unveiling of the ways in which the cultural underde-
velopment of pedagogical theory and organisation development practice
within the digital university has functioned to reproduce and perpetuate
structures of inequalities that betray our emancipatory efforts.
However, beyond their critique, their sound understanding of discur-
sive construction has also provided them the dialectical basis upon which
to offer a more substantive and nuanced reading of technology, as well as
a set of innovative cultural values that privilege liberatory notions of plu-
ralism, through a perspective of the current context as both a challenge
and an opportunity to transform the digital university. In this way,
Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth’s perspective revolutionises how we con-
ceptualise the dynamics of academic and organisational development in
the digital university, illuminating key aspects of a matrix for practical
uses in the integration of technology as a liberatory tool for individual
and community empowerment.

3
Jones, C. & R. Goodfellow (2014) The “Digital University”: Discourse, Theory and Evidence in
International Journal of Learning and Media. V. 4; N. 3–4 (p. 60).
viii Foreword

Deconstructing the Political Economy

of Digital Hegemony
Highly capitalized tools require highly capitalized men. (Ivan Illich)4

In centring the political economy of learning in their treatise, Johnston,

MacNeill, and Smyth signal the importance of material conditions to any
critical examination of the digital university and, moreover, any attempts
to transform the digital hegemony that permeates university contexts.
Ivan Illich’s concern, for example, for the tyrannical manner in which
economic policy options unfold under capitalism seems especially perti-
nent to the discussions of digital technology within the neoliberal univer-
sity. It is evident, moreover, that the oppressive and alienating forces of
advanced capitalism have largely shaped the manner in which digital
technology as a tool has been capitalised within the university and soci-
ety. This has required, as Illich rightly argues, highly capitalized men and
women who commonsensically embrace the underlying myths of tech-
nology as neutral and non-obstructive to our labour and, thus, acquiesce
to the changing forms of university work—even when such changes strip
us of conviviality5 or the freedom of choice.
For example, in the early 1990s, university professors were suddenly
mandated to establish email accounts. For the most part, there was little
pushback to the rhetoric of innovation and time-saving promises made to
faculty across universities. In the excitement of the novelty, there was lit-
tle argument against the fact that technology would overnight add two to
three hours of labour daily to our already full workloads and that we
would become enslaved to our email 24/7. As a consequence, our pro-
ductivity did increase without necessarily an increase in our salary, as was
the case across many industries. The result was not only heightened
labour expectations, in which we did not have a voice, but also a loss of
autonomy for our labour that until this day is seldom discussed. It is this
loss of autonomy and infringement into our creative production that

4
Illich, I. (1973). Tools for Conviviality. New York: Harper & Row (p. 66).
5
Ibid.
 Foreword ix

well-illustrates a mechanism by which academic workers became further

capitalised. Similarly, technology in the neoliberal university has also led
to the standardisation and instrumentalisation of curriculum develop-
ment and pedagogical activities within the classroom that have grossly
interfered with the autonomy, fluidity, and creative processes of educa-
tors. In the name of progress, this has led to increasing conditions of
surveillance and control of our labour, often shrouded, once again, by the
distorted rhetoric of efficiency and heightened productivity—a sort of
radical positivist proclamation.
With this in mind, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth work meticulously
to reveal the underlying myths behind deceptive transformative claims
and descriptions of the digital university, which function to intensify the
political economic grip of neoliberalism. From this standpoint, the
authors expose the unevenness of digital development over the last three
decades and across multiple levels of university life, unveiling gross dis-
parities related to technological practices and the adoption of technology.
In this way, the reader is moved towards critically exploring the emanci-
patory potential and benefits of digital technologies for teaching and
learning, as well as the possibilities for genuine transformative change to
the digital culture of higher education. Through an eloquent engagement
with notions of porosity, open education practice, and the concept of the
commons, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth demonstrate the mounting
need for widening participation from both within and without the uni-
versity. By so doing, the authors counter the oppressive exclusionary cul-
ture of neoliberalism, asserting the power of open, democratic relationships
and participation in building a new political economic ethos for the digi-
tal university.

Critical Literacy and the Digital University

Critical literacy is also necessary to hold to critical scrutiny many of the claims
made by those heralding this brave new world of the 4IR. (Peter Mayo)6

6
Mayo, P. (2018). Personal email correspondence of August 14, discussing the “Fourth Industrial
Revolution” (4IR) phenomenon.
x Foreword

Given the great hoopla that is currently underway among global uni-
versity discussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution—the nascent
intensification of old neoliberal values now more aggressively twisted by
an economic determinist rhetoric linked to the imminent takeover of
drones, Artificial Intelligence, and other technological forces—never has
there been a timelier moment for this outstanding volume. Countering
the economic opportunism associated with the political priorities and
interests of the few (at the expense of the many) points to the necessary
pedagogical scrutiny of critical literacy for disrupting hegemonic myths
and shattering deceptive arguments. In the overwhelming neoliberal
milieu of the digital university today, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth
rightly argue that critical literacy is essential to countering the material
and social conditions of inequality and exclusion within and outside the
digital academy—conditions unequivocally preserved by technologically
driven structures, policies, practices, and relationships that conserve the
status quo.
Towards this end, Conceptualising the Digital University holistically
critically examines a variety of pressing concerns tied to information lit-
eracy and the curriculum, considering themes of digital capability, social
agency, and personhood, as key dimensions of the digital university com-
mitted to social justice. Moreover, by making critical literacy a central
feature of their emancipatory design, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth
consistently provide a much-needed critique of marginality at all levels of
university academic development. In this way, a critical view of digital
literacy is presented as a substantive focus in the evolution of curriculum
development, particularly with respect to critiques of neoliberalism, the
globalisation of technology, and struggles for democratic life in higher
education. As would be anticipated, critical pedagogy underpins their
discussions of redesigning technological learning spaces and environ-
ments. Here, a radical understanding of space is effectively deployed to
engage salient questions of digital, pedagogical, and social relations—
whether these exist in or out of the university—in order to expand pos-
sibilities for the democratisation of learning and an understanding of the
digital university as public good.
 Foreword xi

Reinventing the University as Public Good

In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are
more than just ideals to be valued—they may be essential to survival. (Noam
Chomsky)7

Just as Noam Chomsky has often reminded us of the essential need for
freedom and democracy, Johnston, MacNeill, and Smyth also build their
germane arguments for the reinvention of the digital university on a simi-
lar premise. Grounded in a clear recognition of how political economy,
education, and democracy always comingle, the authors insist that criti-
cal pedagogical alternatives of the university as public good must be
founded upon values that unquestionably support the exercise of democ-
racy and freedom, within universities and the larger society. This reinven-
tion encompasses the digital university as a significant site of struggle and
contestation, as well as a potentially democratic space for both educa-
tional and societal transformation.
Here, the values of critical pedagogy, open education, and academic
praxis are significant features connected to knowledge production, intel-
lectual formation, and community participation in the interest of the
common good. Furthermore, an innovative conceptual matrix and digi-
tally distributed curriculum paradigm are presented as critical democratic
tools to guide collective reflection, dialogue, decision-making, and action.
This dynamic design of the university as public good fittingly privileges
digitally enriched learning spaces that reinforce democratic learning and
co-creation, by way of porous boundaries between knowledge, spaces,
and formal organisation. More importantly, these spaces comprise a ped-
agogical and political essential for reinventing how we comprehend the
place and purpose of technology in education and the world today.
In this difficult historical moment, where our very humanity seems at
risk to destructive technological forces linked to political irresponsibility,
social exclusions, and economic greed, Conceptualising the Digital
University constitutes a powerful clarion call for educators of conscience

7
Chomsky, N. (2010). Noam Chomsky in Speaking on Democracy: A Factual Alternative to the
Corporate Media. See: https://speakingofdemocracy.com/quotes/noam_chomsky/
xii Foreword

committed to critical education, democratic political ideals, and eco-

nomic justice. The book issues a critical call to action engendered by what
Paulo Freire called radical hope8 and an emancipatory vision of the digital
university—one that is founded on political and pedagogical actions that
engage the liberatory possibilities of academic leadership, embrace the
democratising value of pluralism, and enact democratic organisational
policies and practices unapologetically committed to the building of a
more just and loving world.

Loyola Marymount University, USA Professor Antonia Darder

International Scholar,
Public Intellectual, Educator,
Writer, Activist and Artist

8
Darder, A. (2015). Freire and Education. New York: Routledge.
 Acknowledgements

The writing of this book has very much been a discursive process and the
culmination of many discussions and dialogues around the vague con-
cept, questionable assumptions, and actual realities of realising any sort
of vision and plan for the ‘digital university’.
Collaboration has been at the heart of this book, and the thinking and
ideas we present within it. A series of blog posts by Bill and Sheila in
2011 prompted Keith to get in contact in 2012 about a project he was
leading, which led in turn to our collective endeavours in further explor-
ing the concept of the digital university, and the place of ‘the digital’ in
Higher Education. Our efforts in doing so have encompassed our own
joint dialogue, reflections, and writing, our further reading and research,
and crucially also the dialogue we have had with colleagues across the
sector, through workshops at a range of universities, and through present-
ing our thinking, as it developed, at a number of conferences, symposia,
and events.
Now, six years later, we have this book.
Finding and developing our shared critical understanding of the con-
cept of the digital university has been a challenging and humbling experi-
ence, and one which saw our own thinking move away from questioning
the concept of the ‘digital university’ to also questioning the purpose of
universities, and Higher Education, in relation to the constraints, pur-
pose, and possibilities of digital technologies, spaces, and practices, and
xiii
xiv Acknowledgements

in relation to the ideas and ideals of critical and public pedagogy, open-
ness, and democracy. As we have contextualised our understandings, we
have given each other hope in a shared critique which we in turn hope
our readers will share and use as a starting point for many more critically
informed discussions, based on a shared recognition of the need for criti-
cal love and hope to challenge the neo-liberal dominance of our age.
There are a number of people we need to thank. Firstly, the team at
Palgrave Macmillan for recognising the potential for a book in our work,
and their continued support throughout the writing process. Our work
draws from many sources and we are continually inspired by all of our
professional networks and the encouragement we have received from our
peers at conferences where we have presented our work, and the oppor-
tunities that we have been given to publish. This has given us the faith to
carry on and develop our thoughts from conversations and debates into
this most tangible of outputs, a book.
We’d like to give special thanks to some key colleagues and friends. We
warmly thank Antonia Darder for her immediate and continued engage-
ment, support, and critical love for our work. We were fortunate to meet
Antonia at a pivotal point in the preparation of our book, and the time
we spent with Antonia, both learning from and being inspired by her, left
an indelible mark on our thinking and across the final version of this text.
We also thank Helen Beetham, Catherine Cronin, Alex Dunedin, and
Martin Weller for taking the time to read the book and for their generous
endorsements of our work. Their own respective work has had a signifi-
cant impact on our thinking and the structure of this book, as has the
work of Mark Johnson, who introduced us to the concept of Value
Pluralism which we explore at several points.
There are almost too many other people to thank, and we realise frus-
tratingly that we cannot put a name to everyone we have had the benefit
of speaking with as we have developed our work. However, we would like
to give a special mention and thanks to a number of colleagues and
friends who have supported and encouraged us as we started to clarify
and structure our ideas into the form in which they are now presented, or
with whom we were fortunate to have important discussions at impor-
tant points of our journey. In addition to those already mentioned above,
we thank Gordon Asher, Linda Creanor, Jim Emery, Julia Fotheringham,
 Acknowledgements xv

Peter Hartley, Jennifer Jones, Ronnie MacIntyre, David McGillivray,

Neil McPherson, Beck Pitt, Frank Rennie, Peter Shukie, John Alexander
Smith, Panos Vlachopoulos, David Walker, Gina Wall, and Nicola
Whitton.
In the above context, we extend a particular thanks to Richard Hall.
Chapter 8 of our book, as indicated in the chapter, incorporates and
extends material published in the paper by Hall, R. and Smyth, K.
‘Dismantling the Curriculum in Higher Education’ (2016), published in
the Open Library of Humanities. We are grateful to Richard and the
Open Library of the Humanities for allowing us to repurpose this mate-
rial in our narrative. Richard also draws upon aspects of the aforemen-
tioned paper in his recent book The Alienated Academic: The Struggle for
Autonomy Inside the University (2018, also published by Palgrave
Macmillan).
To our respective families, thank you for your patience and under-
standing and tolerance of lost weekends over the past year. Thanks also to
colleagues at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of the
Highlands and Islands for your support and understanding at points
where our work on this book had an impact on other activities. Finally,
we’d like to give a special mention to the Black Isle Bar in Inverness for
providing a welcoming space for warmth, laughter, pizza, and the occa-
sional glass of red wine.
In solidarity, love, and hope.
 Praise for Conceptualising the Digital
University

“I read this book with a sense of both recognition and urgency. This is not a
manifesto about utopian digital futures, but rather a provocative invitation to
re-think higher education and its role in increasingly open, networked, and par-
ticipatory culture. Written in a language of “hope and critique” (Giroux, 2011),
the authors use the lenses of critical pedagogy and praxis to offer a compelling
case for troubling the existing boundaries of universities – and thus for greater
openness and democratic engagement within and beyond higher education. The
questions and analytical frameworks proposed by the authors should stimulate
much dialogue and debate by educators, academic developers, policy makers,
and all interested in the future of higher education. A vital and timely book.”
—Dr Catherine Cronin, Strategic Education Developer, National Forum for
the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Dublin, Eire

“This is a timely and necessary book. All universities are in some form negotiat-
ing their relationship with the digital context they now operate within – what
does it mean for students, staff, ways of learning, methods of research and the
role of the university in society. What and how should we teach in order to give
students the appropriate skills to operate as effective citizens in a digital world?
These are all questions which the higher education sector seeks answers for. The
issue is that often the answers to such questions are provided by those with a
vested interest – technology vendors or ed tech consultants. What this book
does is place these types of questions within a meaningful and well reasoned
framework. The book addresses this in three sections, looking first at the broadly

xvii
xviii Praise for Conceptualising the Digital University

neo-liberal context within which the digital university operates, and what this
means. In the second part, how the digital university might be conceptualised
and practically implemented is considered. Lastly, the authors address how such
a digital university is situated within a social context. By addressing these ele-
ments, a comprehensive, critical and nuanced picture of the digital university
can be established, rather than one determined by a technological perspective
alone. It is therefore essential reading for anyone with an interest in the digital
evolution of the university.”
—Professor Martin Weller, The Open University, UK

“This timely work examines the power of the digital in context with what is hap-
pening to education today, and in particular to Higher Education. Understanding
education in terms of human development, it is comforting that narratives of
education as a public good are being related through the digital. We live with the
golden promises of technology to emancipate and extend social and intellectual
benefits to the many, however this thinking needs to be matched with the practi-
cal details whilst not shying away from critique of expanding a successful mono-
culture. Just as with the industrial revolution before, our technology industries
are proposing revolutions which lead us round the same circle, down the same
paths of behaviour. Scrutiny of formal education reveals how learning has been
commodified and narrowed; just as we have come to consume the natural world
we have come to consume education. This book provides robust analyses and
alternative envisioning to the consumption of education exploring how technol-
ogy can be used as a tool to open up vital opportunities to everyone, as well as
essential vistas to those in the academy if it is not to atrophy as an intelligent
organ of human society.”
—Alex Dunedin, Ragged University

“We’ve been waiting for this: a book-length critique of the ‘digital university’
that gives full attention to the political context. Johnston, MacNeill and Smyth
explore the role that digital technologies have played in corporatising the acad-
emy, from the curriculum to learning environments, and from business models
to terms of academic employment. They’re hopeful enough and engaged enough
in the wider world to also show how alternative digital pedagogies and strategies
might be pursued, reframing higher education as an open, critical and demo-
cratic project.”
—Helen Beetham, Education Consultant, writer, researcher, commentator
(https://helenbeetham.com/about/)
 Contents

Section I Visioning the Digital University    1

1 Neoliberalism and the Digital University: The Political

Economy of Learning in the Twenty-First Century  3

2 The Digital University: An Impoverished Concept 19

3 Exploring the Digital University: Developing and

Applying Holistic Thinking 39

Section II Deconstructing the Digital University   61

4 The Myth of Digital Transformation 63

5 Digital Participation and Open Communities: From

Widening Access to Porous Boundaries 85

xix
xx Contents

6 Information Literacy, Digital Capability, and Individual

Agency105

7 Digitally Enriched Learning Spaces127

8 The Digitally Distributed Curriculum149

Section III Reimagining the Digital University 177

9 An Extended Conceptual Matrix for the Digital University179

10 Institutional Practice and Praxis203

11 Academic Development for the Digital University217

12 Conclusion: Advancing the Digital and Open Education

Agenda235

Index245
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Work phases to date (MacNeill 2014) 40

Fig. 3.2 Key constructs of the Digital University 41
Fig. 3.3 The Conceptual Matrix for the Digital University (MacNeill
and Johnston 2012) 42
Fig. 3.4 Towards a Digitally Distributed Curriculum (DFWG 2014) 53
Fig. 5.1 Macro, meso, and micro participation. (Adapted from
Buckingham-­Shum 2011) 99
Fig. 8.1 The Digitally Distributed Curriculum 164
Fig. 9.1 The Revised Conceptual Matrix for the Digital University 184
Fig. 9.2 The Revised Conceptual Matrix as the intersection of
open educational practice, critical pedagogy, organisational
development, and praxis 188

xxi
 Section I
Visioning the Digital University
 1
Neoliberalism and the Digital
University: The Political Economy
of Learning in the Twenty-First Century

Introduction: Locating ‘The Digital’

in a Contested Environment
Our aim in this book is to conceptualise ‘The Digital’ as a feature of the
change forces influencing higher education in the twenty-first century.
These forces include (i) neoliberal policies to reposition higher education
as a market of providers and consumers; (ii) the expansion of the number
of institutions and increase in the numbers of students; (iii) overemphasis
on the contribution made by universities to economic growth and com-
petitiveness; (iv) introduction of external mechanisms to measure the
quality of teaching, research, and the performance of staff; (v) digital
technology itself, primarily positioned as a practical means of enhancing
learning and teaching; and (vi) critical responses to negative changes. It is
within this complex nexus of forces that we locate ‘The Digital’ in rela-
tion to the university. However, we also contend that ‘The Digital’ is best
understood as contestable territory in relation to the overall strategic
policy directions universities choose to define their place in society. So it
is in the space of critical approaches to strategic direction that our efforts

© The Author(s) 2018 3

B. Johnston et al., Conceptualising the Digital University, Digital Education and
Learning, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99160-3_1
4 B. Johnston et al.

will converge and focus, particularly on academic and organisational

development in universities.
We will show in Chap. 2 that these change forces elicit contradictory
responses to the idea of the digital university. Some commentators are
extremely positive, whilst others are highly sceptical, voicing concern that
the intrinsic motivations of students and scholars are under threat from a
repositioning of higher education as a market in knowledge and qualifi-
cations. From our perspective the contradictory nature of response is of
most interest, and our approach to the argument and narrative develop-
ment in the book embraces contradiction as the focal point for concep-
tualisation of the digital university. We will seek to answer the question
‘what is the digital university’ by a dialogic process, and it is only through
creating opportunities for critical dialogue that affords opportunities to
all stakeholders that radical digitally enabled transformation can actually
occur. We look to critical pedagogy as a key theoretical focus to create the
appropriate supportive spaces for these dialogues to be instantiated and
evolve. We look to highlight the positive elements of radicalisation, as
something that is based on human values that allows everyone to find
their voice, to be valued, and to question the many illusions of consumer
choice that our neoliberal society and in turn education systems currently
operate. We see this as the way to create a meaningful alternative narra-
tive to that of the increasingly managerialist, education as a service with
customer’s approach that senior managers within universities are
embracing.
Our aim in this introductory chapter is to expose and challenge the
power of neoliberalism to shape higher education and universities. We
contend that neoliberalism impoverishes higher education and in
response introduce an alternative framing of change and educational
transformation. Our values are drawn from notions of critical pedagogy,
public pedagogy, and openness as defining characteristics of university
institutions.
We interpret critical pedagogy as a theory and practice of learning and
teaching derived from radical educators such as Paulo Freire, Henry
Giroux, and Antonia Darder, which engenders critical consciousness of
the oppressive social and economic conditions influencing learners and
teachers. Critical pedagogy in action is often described in relation to the
 Neoliberalism and the Digital University: The Political Economy… 5

term praxis, which denotes collective understandings derived from cycles

of dialogic and experiential learning, and a commitment to challenging
and changing that which needs challenged and changed.
We recognise and explore the challenges of value pluralism, that is “the
view that different values may be fundamentally and defensibly correct in
different contexts, but may also be incommensurable” (Johnson and
Smyth 2011, pp. 211–212) in relation to the place of the digital in our
universities. This expresses our view of organisational tensions between
differing concepts of the digital, pedagogy, curriculum, and the univer-
sity, and we recognise that such tensions will be manifest in the behaviour
of institutional actors on the organisational stage and in the substance of
their decisions about strategy, funding, structures, and daily practice.
We interpret openness as entailing notions of open educational prac-
tice, open pedagogy, open educational resources, and critical and public
pedagogy. We see openness as a way to provide increased opportunities
for participation and knowledge creation, and the sharing of knowledge
created through pedagogic engagements within and through the univer-
sity. As we come on to argue and explore at several points, openness is not
the sole preserve of online or digital environments. There are many ways
in our physical environments where an open ethos can provide alterna-
tive ways to extend our notions of physical learning spaces, and where a
co-location and intersection of the physical and digital can enrich and
extend educational opportunities.
These principles are at the centre of our conceptualisation of the digital
university and interconnect with each other as we consider the politics,
practices, and pedagogies of modern universities and the potential for
radical change.
Our main intellectual strategy is to treat the ‘digital university’ not so
much as a discrete type or kind of university; rather we adopt the notion
of ‘discursive construction’ (Jones and Goodfellow 2012) in relation to
the term ‘digital university’ to express our sense that what is required is
holistic investigation of the concept rather than the establishment of hard
and fast categories of description. We will take the process of discursive
construction further by employing Freire’s sense of praxis as involving not
simply discussion but also challenge and action to change oppressive ele-
ments in our environment. Allied to this is the related notion of public
6 B. Johnston et al.

pedagogy within which we contend that academic work undertaken in a

university should matter in relation to social needs and the wider good
(Giroux 2000). In line with this critical strategy, we will explore both
‘The Digital’ and ‘The University’ as problematic and contestable con-
structs, which are subject to definition and redefinition by powerful
sociocultural forces and political and economic interests. However, we
contend that the agency of staff and student can be interposed to counter
such forces, generate alternative visions of the nature and purpose of uni-
versities, and redraw the boundaries of participation to engage a much
wider and more varied university population.

On the Nature of ‘The Digital’

‘The Digital’ has become a talismanic phrase in general use suggesting a
powerful socio-economic force. In everyday parlance, ‘The Digital’ is
mainly associated with computer technology applications such as data
recording, storage, and transmission, and specific examples including
digital TV. However, a much wider horizon of meaning is evident and
includes terms such as ‘digital age’, ‘digital generation’, and ‘digital revo-
lution’. When espoused by the management consultancy McKinsey
(Dörner and Edelman, 2018) in relation to universities, we find the fol-
lowing assertion:

… we believe that digital should be seen less as a thing and more a way of
doing things. To help make this definition more concrete, we’ve broken it
down into three attributes: creating value at the new frontiers of the busi-
ness world, creating value in the processes that execute a vision of customer
experiences, and building foundational capabilities that support the entire
structure.

Whether the McKinsey copywriter has actually made the definition

‘more concrete’ by invoking high-level management speak, or has simply
appropriated the term to serve corporate interests, is a matter for debate.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that universities are contributing to the
debate by using the phrase ‘digital university’ to attempt a redefinition of
the university in the twenty-first century. However, when it comes to the
 Neoliberalism and the Digital University: The Political Economy… 7

practicalities of what a university ‘being digital’ might look like, different

perspectives are being embedded in the policy, provision, and futures
planning of higher education institutions. We suggest that development
is hampered by the term being used in narrow contexts, mainly relating
to digital technology and infrastructure, or to developing student digital
skills and/or digital literacies. Equally we are concerned that a corporate
style of top-down management is determining the nature of digital devel-
opments in universities and constraining staff and student capacity to
shape their learning and teaching experiences.
These different, often competing, understandings are informed by the
responsibilities that different individuals or departments have for specific
aspects of digital practice within the institution. This variety represents a
form of what we described above as value pluralism (Johnson and Smyth
2011), in university organisation, and we will elaborate this important
concept in later chapters in concert with our advocacy of critical peda-
gogy. Hereafter we will use the form—the digital—and express the vari-
ous connotations in the particular context of our discussion at given
points in our narrative. Also we will expand our consideration of the
nature of the digital in Chap. 2 in the context of a number of key com-
mentators on the digital university.

Neoliberalism and the Neoliberalisation

of the University: The Architecture
of the Digital University
We see neoliberalism as the primary shaping influence on contemporary
universities, exemplified by notions of higher education as a market com-
prising universities as providers and students as consumers. Consequently,
it is essential to preface any discussion of what a digital university might
be, with a discussion of what a neoliberal university is and what alterna-
tives can be adduced.
Headline features of neoliberal political economy include (i) valu-
ing private property over public ownership; (ii) appropriation of pub-
lic resources through government policy of privatisation; and (iii)
8 B. Johnston et al.

introduction of corporate management styles to public sector organ-

isation. As an intellectual construct, neoliberalism has been carefully
analysed (Mirowski and Plehwe 2009; Birch 2017) and critiqued
(Harvey 2005; Streek 2014; Maclean 2017). As both economic doc-
trine and political practice, neoliberalism has dominated state policy
in the UK, the EU, North America, and many other nations, since at
least the 1970s, and has come to dominate contemporary cultural
frameworks. At the time of writing, it is strongly associated with the
austerity policies enacted in response to the 2008–2009 financial crash.
We describe neoliberalism from three perspectives:

• Philosophy of economic and social dominance by the rich and power-

ful at the expense of socialist and social democratic values; a long-term
economic project to prize market values and ensure corporate power.
• Practice: shrink the state, suppress organised labour, accept wage stag-
nation, deregulate enterprise, use zero-hour contracts and other
employment mechanisms to increase precariousness of work, minimise
welfare systems, sanction welfare claimants, install austerity.
• Presentation: there is no alternative; negative attitudes to workers, wel-
fare claimants, immigrants and ‘experts’; control of media messages to
grab attention, shape public opinion and voting behaviour; stifle criti-
cal thinking.

Neoliberalism is claimed by some to be an economic and political

structure in crisis (Mason 2015; Srnicek and Williams 2016) exemplified
by the economic shocks post the 2008 financial crash including stagnant
wages, low interest rates, low productivity, precarious employment, and a
weakening of public services. Both sets of authors make out cases for
radical alternatives involving digital technology and new ways of collab-
orative working. Nevertheless, neoliberalism remains the primary influ-
ence of the strategic direction on higher education and management of
universities.
In essence the neoliberal approach to higher education is as an indus-
try ‘producing’ degrees, to be ‘purchased’ by student customers with
the intention of career benefit to the consumer and the economy as a
whole. The strong tendency, therefore, is to curtail ideas of an educa-
 Neoliberalism and the Digital University: The Political Economy… 9

tion with wider personal, social, and democratic purposes. In addition,

neoliberal thinking influences staff and student consciousness, arguably
in the direction of purely economic goals and away from notions of
holistic development and critical citizenship. Commenting from a
North American perspective, the radical educator Antonia Darder is
unequivocal:

As the liberal democratic purpose of higher education became more and

more obfuscated, universities across the country become more deeply
aligned with the narrow rationality of neoliberal objectives. (Darder 2011,
p. 420)

In universities established perspectives and practices are threatened by

neoliberal managerialism, and new more radical propositions such as the
Entrepreneurial University (Gibbs et al. 2012) are being promoted in the
spirit of neoliberal thinking. This approach has driven change in UK
higher education since the late twentieth century and has been enshrined
in national policy over several decades to constitute a project of neoliber-
alisation of the idea, nature, and practice of universities.
Within a neoliberal ideological architecture, education and pedagogy
are constrained by the policy imperative of student employability as the
primary learning outcome and control of pedagogical practice as a key
underpinning strategy in achieving that outcome. These outcomes are
directly linked to the economic success of the nation as well as individual
graduates, and in both cases there is a powerful narrative favouring
STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) subjects and work-­
related skills. In this formulation value for money is presented as a key
determinant of student experience, and institutions are required to pro-
vide tangible evidence of the value for money they represent to students.
The review of higher education in England and Wales announced by the
Prime Minister, Theresa May, in February 2018 underlines the point that
the UK Government is still determined to treat higher education as a
market. In effect there is no alternative to continued neoliberalisation of
UK higher education in the eyes of the present UK Government.
Institutional management in turn is predicated on norms and practices
derived from the corporate sector. In terms of institutional practice, this
Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of
Verbrüderung: Gedichte
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Verbrüderung: Gedichte

Author: Johannes Robert Becher

Release date: December 26, 2012 [eBook #41706]

Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: German

Credits: Produced by Jens Sadowski

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERBRÜDERUNG:

GEDICHTE ***
 V ER B R Ü DER U N G

GEDICHTE
VON
JOHANNES R. BECHER

LEIPZIG
KURT WOLFF VERLAG
1916
 G e d r u c k t b e i E . H a b e r l a n d i n L e i p z i g - R . Fe b r u a r
1 9 1 6 a l s f ü n fu n d z wa n z i g s t e r B a n d d e r B ü c h e re i
» D e r j ü n g s t e Ta g « . / D i e G e d i c h t e
» Ve r b r ü d e r u n g « w u rd e n i n d e n J a h re n 1 9 1 5 u n d
1916 in Berlin geschrieben Sie sind meinen
F re u n d e n g e w i d m e t

C O P Y R I G H T 1 9 1 6 B Y K U RT W O L F F V E R LA G • L E I P Z I G
 Erster Teil

Kreuzzug / Ekstasen
der Zärtlichkeit /
Abschied von den
Frauen

Nicht daß wir zärtlich-feig oft in die Lauben uns stahlen

—
Kampf war auch dies. Krieg. Vergewaltigung.
Versuch: wütigen Vorwärtsstemmens,
Überallhin zündend Brüderlichkeit zu entfalten,
Paradies erarbeiten!
Aber, Gott zu säen in die Gefilde des Weibs:
Wie noch vergebens . . .
 Ödipus
I
Der Knabe wartet auf die Mutterblüte,
Die unter bauschenden Gewändern thront.
Da kommt sie strahlend weich: die Mutterblüte,
Von keinem Mann, von ihm nur fern bewohnt.
Der Vater muß verreisen in den Norden.
Niemand herein in unsere Nächte stört.
(. . . ach Vater du wie oft um sie gemordet . . .)
Der Mutterblüte tief er angehört. —
Er fuhr dazwischen. Spät. Mit Ofenhacken.
Der jagt ihn, Sturm, aus süßem Wiegenbett.
Nun wird er gleich, ein Vieh, die Mutter packen.
Schnurrbart spritzt rechts und links gleich
Bajonett.
Sie spült herauf. Davon die Fleische klirren.
Entfloh ihm taumelnd, als der Zug noch stand.
Die Mutterblüte muß ihn arg verwirren.
Manchmal auszackt sie wie der Hölle Brand.

II
An den Vater

Schlangenader längs der Stirne rollt.

Gabel stößt er pfeifend in Salat.
Weißer Suppe krummes Maul träuft voll.
Makkaroni würgt aus Nase grad.
In den Weinberg kroch er, dichtes Laub,
Den Kniefällen seiner Kinder taub:
Dorther wächst und wächst ein
Donnerschnarchen.
Die ihn sucht, sich bückt —: sie schreckt die
Blöße.
Auf den Lippen gischtet Spülichtschlamm.
Szepter in der Faust des Patriarchen.
Füße Schweiß mit ihren Haaren klamm
Wäscht sie. Arme Braut des Bösen.
Später, da er vor den weiten Plätzen
Ängstigend sich preßt in ihren Arm —
Seufzer schickt sie den Erbarmungsblicken,
So ihr zu oft glänzende Herren nicken . . .
(Mancher stößt sich in sie rauschend warm).
Die ihm dient als Boot zum Übersetzen.
Ausgeleiert. Nur ein Ausstück. Fetzen.
Finger birgt sie, die erfroren rot
Von Stricknadeln (Messerwald) durchlöchert.
Aus geschwollener Augen Köcher
Spritzeln Tränen auf zerdrehtes Brot.
Niederstürzt sie, die er täppisch rupft,
An die sich heraufwälzt stumpfer Bauch.
Zitternd in ihr kleines Bett sie schlupft:
Ausgesogen, starr. Ein windiger Schlauch.
Bei dem Löffel in die Teller Klirren —:
Hund am Tisch du! Klaffender Tyrann!
Wo dein Sohn, Indianer, dir auflauert
Zwischen Zähnen Beil er fiebernd kauert
Vor dem Schlafgemach — bis schwirrend
Saust das Beil! Das Beil —: es fällt dich an!
 Mädchen
I
Franziska

Du Engel ihm vom Zigarettenladen!

Ein Ingenieur pflückt dich als Bräutigam.
Wir dürfen nachts im Raum der Gärten baden.
Wenn orgeln Sonntags gute Bettler am
Geblümten Weg, mit Karussells beladen,
Der Isarstrom verzweigt in grünen Bändern —
Die Augen sich mit dessen Schein berändern.
Doch bald —: er explodiert mit Bombenschritten
E i n n e u e r V a t e r ! in dem Schlafgemach!!
Der Faust entrasseln paukende Gewitter.
Und tausend Väter kollern heulend nach!
Gepeitschte aller Welt in uns erzittern.
Rückflüchten wir. Es brennt die heimlichste der
Lauben.
Sie wollte nurmehr — aus — dem Browning
glauben.
Dein Jüngling schrie durch jene finsteren Nächte
An seine Mutter. Auch sie —: fühllos kalt.
Sie wird kein Wort in solche Zuckung sprechen.
Doch dess Gehirn durchrauscht soviel an Wald,
Gebirg, Veranden: überwölbt von Bächen
Azur, inmitten bunt die Sonne platzt.
O, Frühjahrsregen an die Fenster kratzt.
Die läßt ihn nicht. Hoch seine Schulter kriecht
Sie wie Gewürm. Du kannst mir nicht entfallen!
Da —: in die Brüste ihr die Kugel sticht.
Und draußen muß man mit dem Frühstück lallen.
Bald löscht auch er. — Bis groß die Tür ausbricht:
Schutzleute stehn enorm mit Riesenbeilen,
Behelmte Götter sich im Raum verteilend.

II
Dorka

Sie —: Dorka. Die ein orphischer Erdsturz braust.

Ihn aufwarf und bereißt. Entsog. Zerstückte.
Ihm Helferin zu seinem ersten Bau.
Um deren Mund sich Sturm aus Bajonetten
zückte.
Armeeen sich im Abgrund ihres Nabels schlugen.
(— vor der er sich zum Trank der Gosse bückte
—)
Wie lang schlief er in solchen Leibes Fuge.
Nie je war Nacht so fabelhafte Nacht.
Mit Engeln, die uns auf der Wolken Samtbett
trugen.
Sie Dorka. Die ein schmetterndes Orchester
lacht!
Am Horizont aufsteht sie, wachsend ungeheuer.
Die Sterne purzeln tönend in den Schacht
Des Schoßes. Wolkgemäuer
Treibt vor und schäumt und klebt sich in die
Haut.
Von Küsten euch o Lippen sprudelt Feuer! Feuer!!
Vor dem der Dachstuhl aller Kathedralen taut.
Der Haare schwarze Fahn zuhöchst dem Haupt
gehißt.
. . . und von Morästen braut
Es, untermischt mit Wiesen, um den Flor
Der Wimpern, die gleich Lanzengittern
niederschatten.
Um Locken Waldung sprießt ein Natternchor.
An Schläfen Nester triefender Kasematten.

III
Mary

Gefügt aus Kurven, die sich mystisch paaren,

Ellipsenscheiben; Pyramidenwald
Muß deinem Haupt zu wehendem Turm sich
scharen.
Der Finger Lilie gen die Sonn gekrallt . . .
Café das Beet, aus dem du lächelnd sprießt.
Wie oft wir uns um diesen Hals schon rankten!
So laß dich tragen! Eisiger Mondschwamm fließt.
Und Wind zerrt knisternd deinen Hut, den
schwanken.
Umstellt dich Reih starrfunkelnder Laternen:
Gebogenheit an solchem Leib zu lernen.
Man wird stets denken: Atem dieser Brüste!
Und morgens lösch ich mit der Frühe aus!
Die Nacht zerrauscht an deiner Glieder Küste.
Man hört hindurch der schwarzen Meere Braus.
Ein Rundes schält sich aus ovalen Zeichen,
Die wieder drehn in Linien Zickzack unter.
Heut aber willst du Tier mit Park uns reichen
Im Kelch des Worts —: Millionen Fischlein munter
Läßt du ein Wirrnis durch die Lüfte strahlen.
Der Silberlöwe fährt, ein Tollpatsch, drein.
Ein Zebra mußt du auch den Dom anmalen.
Eidechsen Ornament dich benedeit.
An Gitterästen kleben Spülichtratten,
Wie sauberweiß! Von rosenem Flaum betan.
Gleich frommen Hündlein hüpfen auf und ab dir
Nattern.
Sich tönend neigt, jahrtausendalt, der Schwan.
Die Zauberin ins Paradies. Gefieder
Der Schneee wogt durch dampfende Mittagsluft.
Da steigst du auf. Kehrst du am Abend wieder?!
. . . nur wimmernd ächzet die Matratzengruft . . .
Der Stadt Geräusche schrillen ineinander.
Kanäleschiffe schnellen rings vorbei
Du balanzierst auf des Gebirges Kante,
Faltest die Kerker, Heilige, entzwei.

IV
Emmy

Du deren Mund an Horizonte knüpfte

Einst düsteren Dichter —: er beträumt dich
schwer.
Du hausest Engel tief in Unterschlüpfen.
Versammlerin an kaum betretenem Ort.
Fanatisch du gestreckt von Jenes Wort —
Hah! Schwingst allein dich drehend schon auf
Barrikaden!
Im Schrein aller Gehirn Reliquienfetzen.
Ja —: Satzgefüge tollste meißeln dich:
Geschwür. Wirr deinen Körper geißelt
Der Menschheit Auf- und Niedersteigen. Jäh der
Treppen Schritt . . .
Und diese Hand so schlug s p r e n g t ! deine
Brüste.
O! Jungfrau von Orleans unsere!
Fahnen: Gesänge hüllen dich.
 Aus den Sonetten um C.
I
Er hüpfet lächelnd kraus von Schleierwinken
Durch Wiese, loh im Scharlachabend brennend.
Schlägt von der Marmorberge Postament,
Bis rauhe Lippen solcher Süße trinken:
Ein wenig Mond mit Firmament gemischt,
Stöße von Nacht und Träume Intervallen.
Daß seine Augen auf die Städte fallen,
Gläsern und trunken. Kühl ihr Weißes lischt.
. . . Ihr Bögen dürftet nicht den Strom mehr
drücken
Der gleich Palästen aufgestauten Brücken.
Alleeen rinnen hoch der Finsternis,
Kaum flockt zerbrochenen Mondes grüner Firnis.
Er aber schläft. Sein blutig Lid es hängt
Ein jäher Dorn in Hyazinthenfrühe öd.

II
Sie streift ihn kaum. Doch deinen dunklen Gärten
Ward er zum Bräutigam wie unbemerkt.
Nun tanzt und wiehert er mit lichten Pferden.
Besingt den Mondtag als sein schönstes Werk.
Voll bunter Knospen stehn in Brand die Haare.
In Ohres Muscheln flüstern Samoware.
Ein weicher Strom verzückt ums Aug sich streut.
Der Stirne Golf im weiten Strahl sich freut.
Ein Tod er trifft ihn schlafend unverwundet.
Zypressentraum herbstlicher Nächte mundet.
Von Cymbeln hingerafft ins Blau . . . Noch fand
An ihren Lippen Ruh die steife Hand.
Und Küsse lang wie Nektar ausgeschlürft.
Als hieß es heut zum erstenmal: „Ihr dürft . . .“

III
Ihr Angesicht erfüllt von nächtigem Mohne,
Drum kräuseln rührend spitze Lilaschatten:
Ein Lächeln, das einst fremde Länder hatten,
Bevor sie Frauen wurden, Stadt und Ton.
Die Zedernfüße steigen kaum im Schwung
Von Tänzerinnen. Doch der Mund ist schon.
Sie pendelt kurz, ein blankes Medaillon.
Auf dessen Schildrund rückt die Dämmerung
Nur manchmal. Horizonte Ungefähres
Webt feucht darin. Geborstene Türen klinken.
Um ihretwillen müssen Damen schminken,
Kraß Tuben klexen in ein höhnisch Leeres
Zerrissenes Oval. Asyle stinken.
Sie s t e h t ! Ihr die Verrufenen winken — —.

IV
Der Räuber Tod ließ dich wie einen Zeiger
Auf deinem Blatte vor der Stunde stehn.
Der Atem hört ein Schlagwerk auf zu gehn.
(. . . Und Menschen rings auf Plätzen wirr
gesteigert . . .)
Ein Pferd will sich vor rosenem Schoß leicht
schmiegen.
Im laubichten Haar versammeln sich die Fliegen.
Aus Augen Waben träuft ein Honigmet.
Geborstene Schatten winken noch . . . zu spät.
Die Sonne strömt. Aus Seliger Revier
Spült der Choral (er schmilzt den Kerker) —:
Wir!!
Dein Triller wie auf höchstem Seile blinkt.
Schwank über Frühjahrs krummen Regenbogen
Er schaukelt, dreht . . . gleitend hinabgezogen.
Bis ers Finale der Posaunen bringt.
 An C.
Manchmal meine ich, Du könntest eine
Geschichte aus mir machen und mir ist, als
ob das Sterben, jetzt oder später, leichter
würde, wenn man weiß: ich selber konnte
wohl nichts tun, aber es geschah irgend
etwas durch mich.

C.
Der Nacht quoll: schief verworren
Wölbt sich jetzt Morgen grad.
Du kannst ihn schreiten sehen
Ganz Wind und Schwebezeit.
Sein Aug umstreichen Flüsse.
Tosender Wälder Schwung
Flackt um der Berge Schulter.
Des Tages Purpurküsse.
Du kannst ihn schreiten sehen.
Nicht Qual fretzt ihn. Kein Dorn.
Der Nacht quoll: schief verworren
Ganz Wind und Schwebezeit.
Aus Lilienfinger geußt dem
Gekrümmten Schwangeren Balsam.
Säuglingen, den Asylen
Träuft er der Lippen Brod.
(. . . einst stürzten Worte Unflat,
Nun schmilzt ein Mond im Tönen.
Wie Quell springts aus der Flöte Horn.
Jetzt kaum noch Mietskasernen stöhnen . . .)
Du kannst ihn schreiten sehen
— die goldenen Wagen rauschen —
Mit schmetterndem Tempostampfen,
Wo sich vor brüchigem Tor
Sein Volk in den Azur löst.

II
Mond im Fluten Traums verweht,
Nachtigallen dich besuchen.
Wickelst dich aus schweißigem Tuche,
Tanzest auf Balkonen spät,
Flackert noch ob dem Staket
Morgens klein der bunte Shawl.
Purpurküsse ausgesät
Schlürft er in den Städten fahl.
In der Autos Röcheltuten
Gluckst ihm dünn dein Husten ganz.
Sprengt er laut entzwei die Buden.
Zirpt der Karusselle Kranz.
„. . . Jäh in Huren die hohl kichern
Schnappt dein höchster Triller über.
Rette uns zu dir hinüber
Engel . . .“ Herbstlaub wischt der Dichter.
Unter Türen, Räderspeichen
Kauert brüchig das Gebild.
Harfenfinger in die Leichen
Krallt es schüttelnd, tönend wild.
„Wiesen streust du aus. Im Gang
Kräuseln Wälder. Ströme Falten
Zündeln hoch in mystischem Schwang.
Kniee stoßen grad basalten.
Um die Schläfe schmiegt dein Gang.
Langsam schmilzt der Stern ins Haar.
Flöte summt der Samowar.
Weite Weite gräbt sich trüber.
Rollt ein Atem — Nächte Wind.
Pferdeaugen blühn im Kind.
Engel rette uns hinüber! . . .“

III
Wir möchten uns begreifen
Hindurch, ja ganz das Unsere
In tauben Küssen fühlen.
Das alles: Bett, Fluß, Stühle,
Im Haar von Rosa Schleifen . . .
Das aber schreit als Unseres:
Im Schoß das Haupt zerwühlen,
Wie Stürme fetzend durch die Körper schweifen.
Oft nächtens wir uns tönend schwingen
Aus brüchigem Mund zu vollerem Baum.
Empor aus Tier und öliger Straße fingen
Auf Lüften selig gleitend ein wir Gott und
Sternen-Raum.
Da stürzten Väter borstig-jähe
Herab den Trunkenen aus den Sphären.
Schwangere Mütter kreischend scheren
Ihm ab der Locken Schnee.
Das Grab klafft uns bereitet.
Flößte uns Gifte ein im Trunk.
In Herbst-Laub fahl gekleidet
Wir schwieren in der Dämmerung
Der großen Städte. Quollen
Nicht Fahnen Ruß aus Stein und Schlot.
Man Nebel schlürft zum Abend-Brot.
Die Därme gleich Fabriken schollen.
Und Echo brüllte tausendfach.
Da rinnen Augen klein. Erwacht
Des Engels Daseins-Blüte?!
Er geußt die Lilien-Hand. Ein Strich
Bog ab der Brust den Messer-Stich.
Neu formt er Rock und Hüte.
Wie Bläue hell durchs Land geweitet
Schlug auf in uns er Zelt und Pfühl.
Am Firmament heroisch schreiten
Wir aus, zu Flöte süßestem Spiel.
 Ekstasen der Zärtlichkeit
Du Einzige,
Die mich verstand
Die meine glühenden Verbrechen
Selig verwand.
Die meinen tiefen Schöpfergram
Ins Heilige gemildert
In ihren Geist hinübernahm.

Mombert

I
Dein Gang elastisch. Die Gelände wirbeln.
Ein roter Dorfturm stach verzückt ins Blau.
Die Rinnsal-Straßen mögen dich nie fassen.
Turban deines Haupts —: Spirale blumigen
Regenbogenflusses.
So müssen immer Städte dich besingen,
Der grünsten Falterwiese zirpende Schalmei,
Von Reisauflauf ein Ruch dich ganz bedringen.
Da Kinder kehren Wäsche unterm Arm vom
Baden heim.
Du: die Entfaltete. Geblümte Möbel reihen sich
dir zum Halsband schlicht.
Ists auch kein Sieg der aus den Gewaltmärschen
längs der Küste deiner Lippen blüht.
Immer aber schon ein Streif Paradies aus dem
Tau deiner Haare sich löste.
Jener Märtyrer-Brüder Phalanx sucht sich in dir
zurück.
Libellen muntere über dem See im Spiegel deiner
Ovalnägel wiederfanden sie sich.
Der aber als violettes Zebra im Gitterkäfig, von
der Mondschlucht
Weich beraunt . . . O geschnitzte
Karussellpferdchen dich melodisch
umkreiselnd!
Du heilige Jungfrau, Mutter unsere! Palast in dem
der Mann vergeht zu Urkindwildnis,
Jünglinge siedende gossen sich sterbend
über die Planke deiner Hüfte.
Oft. Und einer um den anderen.
Je nachdem . . .
Viel Ozeandampfer hängen in Korallenzweigen,
Mit Fischen ziehend durch das Lochgebiß.
Dein Lächeln könnte sie zusammenfügen,
Die schwebten wieder groß im Meer gewiß.
Wie tausend Tote gleich Geliebten kauern,
Sie spreitzen sich gens wolkichte Gebild.
Wind stutzt die Dornen der Granatenbrände:
Atem dein auch glättend den Berserker wild.
Mütter so dich immer wiederholen:
Schreiterin im sprühenden Ornat.
Vielecksonnen breiten auf den Wangen,
Dem vom Schleier überzogenen Gletscherfeld.

II
. . . und immer muß sie aus Geräuschen brodeln,
Hinflutend auch im großen Nächtewind.
Symphonisch Klirren der entfachten Fenster
Aus derer Augen zuckend bräunstem Rund.
Die Teiche vor der Stadt sie lächeln dich.
Dich meint die Heimkehr tönender Soldaten.
Zu deinen Füßen baut sich Strich um Strich,
Und Plätze mit der Sonne schwer beladen.
Wie klar es ist: daß dich der Zug nur will,
Der von der Brück ab in den Äther springt.
Die Transparente blitzen deinen Namen.
Du aller Kinos dröhnendes Plakat.
Und wenn dich noch die kleinen Dinger rufen,
Rot aus dem Bauch in spitzigen Glast geschält.
Auf Bänken Strolche sich in dir verankern.
Dich jeder ausspricht der ins Dunkel stürzt.
Erlöste Tiere ruhen in deiner Fächer-Hände
Schatten,
Weit Menschenvölker spielend miteinand.
Die müssen bunte Fahnen um dich flattern.
Muster eingewoben dem Gewand.

III
Zinnobere Bäche. Mosaik der Wälder.
Gehäuft ob Bergen Trichter Sonne gell.
Firnis des Monds. Verschlungener Täler Brausen.
Geborstene Städte — brüllende! — Schalmei.
Und Niederknallen blökender Idioten —
Und Dächerbalanzieren, sternwärts Taumeln —
Und Liebender Geflüster vom Kanal —
So buntgeflickte Segel hissen dich!!
Er wird dich durch die vielen Länder tragen
Der junge Dichter, strahlende um ihn.
Ein Himalaya muß er tönend ragen,
Um den die Schwärme, Stern und Wolken jagen,
Zu dessen Füßen neue Städte knien.
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

textbookfull.com