The Community College Completion Agenda: Neoliberal Ideology and Affect Theory

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding the Role of Policy in Educational Collaborations: Understandings, Interpretations, and Knowledge Constructions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain how affect theory as developed in the humanities (e.g., Berlant, 2011) the social sciences (e.g., Anderson, 2016), and education (e.g., McKenzie, 2017) can be employed to critically analyze policy texts advocating for the Community College Completion Agenda (the Completion Agenda). More specifically, we use affect theory, as applied in the mobilities of policy literature (e.g., McKenzie, 2017), to show how a particular policy text attempts to exploit campus leaders’ fear of failure and performance anxieties.

Authors

• Clifford P. Harbour, University of North Texas

• Jennifer R. Wolgemuth, University of South Florida