I Second That Emotion: A Collaborative Examination of Emotions Felt in Course Administration Work

Course administrators hold a unique position in academe—one that requires high levels of emotion management as part of the job. This research utilized a collaborative autoethnography to explore how workplace emotions were experienced in the basic communication course. The experiences were presented through vignettes written and analyzed by seven course administrators from programs across the United States. Four themes emerged from the vignettes: (1) acting perpetually positive, (2) (un)catching emotion, (3) rushing for time, and (4) switching roles. Each theme highlighted the multiple, and sometimes competing, responsibilities/expectations embedded in the administrative role. This research offers a discussion of each theme and informs five recommendations for managing emotions and emotional labor within course administration.

The Slippery Slope of Statist Cosmopolitanism

Statist cosmopolitanism is the view that obligations to non-members of a polity extend beyond the humanitarian minimum to general duties of assistance and to duties of reciprocity, including those of non-exploitation, non-domination, and avoidance of “free ridership.” Though this view has much to recommend it, the differentiation between strong duties towards “compatriots” and these other forms of obligation rests on anthropological, ontological, and policy premises that are not clarified. Furthermore, statist cosmopolitanism vacillates between a contractarian and identitarian account of the boundaries of the political community. It follows that we should also challenge whether states should be left free to act on their own judgement alone in balancing competing responsibilities to members and non-members.