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Research on academic activism tends to foreground vociferous and explicit forms of activism that pursue predefined political agendas. Against this backdrop, this article proposes that academic activism can take more subtle forms. Writing as an academic activist collective, we unpack what subtle activism might look like within the context of contemporary academia. We use Foucault's concept of heterotopia to argue that subtle activism can expand the space of what is possible in academia today by experimenting with quietly unsettling norms rather than overtly opposing or rejecting them. We offer a set of principles that might underpin a subtle activist agenda, extrapolated from practices from colleagues and from own activist collective. We hope that these principles may serve to inspire other academics wishing to engage in subtle activism by unsettling everyday practices that discreetly challenge the status quo, thereby contributing to gently shifting the agenda for how it is possible to conduct intellectual work in the contemporary neoliberal university context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses how desire and fantasy function in a project-based welfare setting by examining a case from the context of Danish educational policy. Drawing on Žižek and others' development of psychoanalytical concepts derived from Lacan, the paper shows through an interview-based empirical study how project managers believe in the project they manage through their fantasies about highly passionate 'fiery souls'. However, as the paper argues such managerial fiery soul fantasies add a fantasmatic superstructure to the professional ideals in the reformed Danish public school in a way that challenges the profession category itself by eroding the difference between professionalism and volunteerism. The conclusion is that the secret of the fiery soul rather is its ability to make project-based welfare policy appear coherent than it is the almost supernatural abilities of particular individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]