The paper explores the philosophical impact of a performative understanding of globalisation in terms of 1)the agency of globalisation, 2)the researcher(’s position) as a constitutive part of the research phenomenon and 3)philosophy as part of the fieldwork.

The paper is part of the PhD dissertation Doings and Imaginings of Globalisation in Higher Education. The study examines globalisation in relation to higher education following the Bologna Declaration in 1999. The project investigates organisational processes surrounding the work on declarations, study programmes, curricular and internationalization in the intersection between the Bologna declaration, national and local interpretations and the discursive practices of both educational leaders and teachers at university colleges and universities.

The study is characterized by a critical approach to often used phrasings of globalisation in politics and part of research presenting globalisation as an inevitable and external force overwhelming educational systems. The project contributes with new perspectives on globalisation by investigating what kind of agency is connected to globalisation and how this agency can be traced in educational organisations. That is exploring globalisation as a doing, something being performed and situated within organisational practices.

Taking as a starting point the shift of the matter of hermeneutics from method to ontology instituted by Heidegger (1927) and ethnographically inspired studies (Tsing 2005) in higher education organisations the paper seeks to explore an understanding of globalisation as a performative phenomenon. Heidegger’s subversion of phenomenology into hermeneutics and Derrida’s deconstruction of metaphysics (1982, 2002, 2003, and 2005) radically changes the hermeneutical relation between interpreter and interpreted exposing a fundamental hermeneutical challenge. This challenge is elaborated on by later performativity theory centering on new perceptions of phenomena and intra-action as presented by physicist and philosopher Karen Barad (2003, 2007 and 2010).

Barad argues that the move towards performative alternatives to representationalism shifts the focus to practices and doings. In Meeting the Universe Halfway from 2007 Barad reconceptualizes referentiality claiming that the referent should not be perceived as an observation-independent object but a phenomenon. Through her understanding of phenomena as something constituted by intra-actions between observer and observed Barad fundamentally dismantles the traditional subject-object dichotomy by challenging what can be regarded as real. Perceiving globalisation as a performative phenomenon indicates three major philosophical impacts: One, that globalisation is always globalising meaning always ‘in the making’. Two, that the researcher(’s position) is a constitutive part of the globalisation phenomenon. Three, that philosophy not only impacts the whole conceptualization of the research but also constitute part of the field work. This provides us with opportunity to experiment with the role of philosophy since philosophy’s traditional role is both maintained and dislocated at the same time. It doesn’t merely scaffold the project with adequate notions and a suitable philosophy of science. It is also a ‘finding’ the same way as the analytical content of an observation or interview would be.

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