Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology on the Eve of Evaluation: The State of the Discipline in the Neoliberal Academy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/lud109.2025.14Keywords
ethnology; cultural anthropology; discipline evaluation; Act 2.0; audit culture; neoliberal academy; PolandAbstract
The article examines the system of evaluating academic disciplines introduced in Poland under the Law 2.0 reform, situating it within the broader context of neoliberal transformations in academia and the growing influence of audit culture. From this perspective, I analyze the condition of ethnology and cultural anthropology, which are to be assessed for the first time as an independent academic field. The analysis encompasses human resources, institutional status, and the discipline’s position within the Polish scientific landscape. The evaluation poses a significant challenge for ethnology and cultural anthropology, placing them at the very center of the neoliberal logic of academia, in which the standing of disciplines depends on their capacity to produce measurable and easily comparable outcomes. The results of the assessment will therefore directly influence research funding, academic career development, and the training of new generations of scholars. The article argues that the evaluative logic is redefining standards of scholarly value and increasingly shaping the future trajectory of this field in Poland.
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