Performativity culture and educational research: challenges for political action

This paper reflects on the performativity culture in education in Brazil, driven by Kuhlmann Jr.'s article (2014), in which the author presents arguments against the pressure for publication circulating in academia. The paper relies on the author's experience on evaluation committees, namely evaluation of graduate programs held by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Capes. It is argued that performativity has changed the culture of research and graduate studies in the country; however, the author disagrees that there is a race for production in education. In a dialogue with theorists who, according to Butler (2000), bet on irrealizability, the author supports an agonistic political action in order to act in the fractures of performativity logic, as opposed to a humanistic ethic, liberal in itself.

Educational Policies; Graduate Education; Educational Research; Performativity