Kulturna kritika ili samo mali beg od stvarnosti?Antropološka analiza serije Upravnica ; A Cultural Critique or Just a Little Escapism? An Anthropological Analysis of the TV Series The Chair

U ovom radu je analizirana mini-serija Netfliks produkcije Upravnica (The Chair) iz 2021. godine, dramedija čije su autorke nastojale da ponude „verodostojan” prikaz, a time i kulturnu kritiku, funkcionisanja savremenog američkog univerziteta i visokog obrazovanja. U ovoj seriji se, između ostalog, obrađuju društveno značajne i aktuelne teme poput pitanja rasne, rodne, dobne i klasne (ne)ravnopravnosti u akademskom okruženju i širem društvu, problem krize humanistike, pitanje političke korektnosti i fenomena tzv. „kulture otkazivanja” i mnoga druga. Serija Upravnica je analizirana na dva nivoa, s jedne strane kao tekst – na nivou poruka koje šalje, i s druge strane na osnovu opštih reakcija akademske i šire javnosti koje je pobudila. U tom smislu, recepcija publike se posmatra kao neka vrsta korektiva koji nastoji da potvrdi ili opovrgne određene poruke koje serija šalje i na taj način nam daje potpuniju predstavu o njima. ; This paper offers an analysis of the 2021 Netflix mini-series The Chair, a dramedy whose authors sought to give an “authentic” depiction, but also a cul-tural critique, of the functioning of a contemporary US university and US higher education. The series includes four important elements of higher education – the institution of the university, its administration, university staff (professors/lecturers), and the student population; due to the format of the series, however, these elements have not been given equal attention. Furthermore, through the story of a woman of color at a university who suddenly finds herself in the posi-tion of department chair, this six-part mini-series addresses and/or elaborates on a whole set of messages and issues with which the wider audience can identify – an audience interested in questions regarding universities, the humanities, and wider social issues such as gender, race, age and class (in)equalities in academia, and also in western society more generally (particularly in the USA), the prob-lem of a crisis in the humanities, of neoliberalism at ...