First published 2023
The anthropology department at Sydney University buzzes with tension as faculty members navigate the treacherous waters of academic appointments. Raymond Firth watches colleagues transform into adversaries when prestigious chair positions open at Sydney, the Australian National University, Auckland, and Western Australia. Personal vendettas masquerade as scholarly evaluation as assessors write brutally honest reports about their peers' intellectual capabilities and fieldwork experience. Alexander Ratcliffe-Brown discovers that academic success depends as much on political maneuvering as scholarly merit. Behind closed doors, professors who once collaborated now scheme against each other, their professional judgments colored by personal grudges and hidden alliances. Failed candidates face public humiliation while winners celebrate pyrrhic victories that cost them friendships and respect. The ivory tower reveals itself as a battlefield where careers rise and fall on the whims of colleagues wielding assessment forms like weapons. At its heart, this is a story about how institutional power corrupts academic integrity and transforms scholars into players in a game where knowledge matters less than knowing the right people.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, academia, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, institutional-politics
Setting: Auckland, Australia, Sydney University, Western Australia
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
358 pages · Kindle Edition · Berghahn Books