Tilting at windmills: a cynical assemblage of the crises of knowledge.

The essay offers one piece of a larger conjunctural analysis, in an effort to contribute to a better story of the contemporary organic crisis. It considers three elements of the complexity of the ‘crises’ of knowledge: First, it explores the increasingly feltsocialperception that knowledge (and the forms of authority that accompany it) has become less determined and determining, less identifiable, less effective, more troubled. It argues that one must think about these developments historically and contextually, rather than going along with the panic that has surrounded their increasing visibility in recent political events. Second, it considers some of the attacks on the university as well as some of the recent changes in the political economy and institutional forms of the academy. Finally, it argues that academics have failed to examine their own contributions to the crises of knowledge, failed to consider the ways their own cultures and practices can be located within rather than against the crises of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]