— The Absent Presence of Academic Aeromobility Andrew Glover Yolande Strengers Tania Lewis

Introduction Assumptions about embodied presence for knowledge sharing & networking Bodily co-presence often requires being mobile, usually via air travel Impacts on environment (carbon emissions & fossil fuels), economy (cost of air travel), equity (excludes those unable to fly)

Absent Presence Scholarship on virtual communication/ collaboration focuses on replicating the experience of physical co-presence - particularly of eyes & face (Urry, Jensen) Absent presence focuses on absences created / associated with this preoccupation with presence What is materially & symbolically absent when we assume that physical co-present bodies are essential for collaboration?

SUPP Work Life Ecologies Analysis of Australian university sustainability policies & research strategies Survey of Australian academics about air travel & non-flying alternatives In-depth interviews with academics about experiences of air travel, conferences, & networking online / offline Ethnographic work on ‘digital conferencing’ & remote collaboration

Absent Presence of Mobility in Policy Australian university sustainability policies lack a viable strategy for reducing air travel emissions Strategic plans are often oriented toward internationalisation of research, teaching & learning, and funding Air travel generally not recognised in health policies

Absent Presence of Mobility in Policy Expectations of regular air travel for academic success Normalisation of air travel in academic practice, aligns with policy Air travel has an invisible or absent presence in university policies

Mobility in Academia Demands (guided by policy) on academics to travel to conferences & meetings Academics are seen as needing a ‘presence’ at significant events for exposure, engagement – network capital Difficulty of non-physical presence at events where bodily presence is normalised

“I find that the relationship building stuff is far more important “I find that the relationship building stuff is far more important. I am quite well known for going to conferences and not actually going to the conference but doing a hell of a lot of work in the process, because you’re connecting up with people, you sit down together, you work out a project, you work out a proposal, you get enthused, you do it, you know. And you don’t do that – well I don’t find they do that as well online.” - Irene, senior level academic

Mobility in Academia Mobility entails absence from home (Espino et al, 2002) Professional absence – away from home institution Personal absence – away from family, dependants, friends Hidden gendered domestic labour associated with academic mobility Academic presence necessarily entails absence

“I’m a single mum and I have… a 10 year old and a 16 year old “I’m a single mum and I have… a 10 year old and a 16 year old. Their father lives near but he’s not always reliable to be available to me when I travel… At the moment this week while I’m [travelling] the boys are actually with their dad and this is the first week for the year that they have done that… So there was a bit of a hiccup in the family life the other day… so they may not stay at their dad’s for the whole six weeks and so I’m still trying to work that out over distance, by chatting to them online, on Facebook and all that sort of stuff. I’m trying to think “Oh my God, what other options have I got?”… So, it does have an impact.” - Sarah, mid-career academic

Absent Present Mobilities What get’s ‘left behind’ through the movement of people, ideas and engagement? Does the local start to become absent when the global has attained such a presence in academic discourse? As academia prioritises hypermobility, other forms of ‘slow’ scholarship (Hartman & Darab, 2012) become more absent

Critical Politics of Presence Need for increased understanding of the absent presence of (aero)mobility in university policies & practice Critique of current models of academic labour premised on long hours, blurring of home life & work, on travel leisure and academic labour Virtual modes of engagement are not often replacing physical presence (Faulconbridge et al) Need for new social practices of engagement

andrew.glover2@rmit.edu.au