Academoniacs Roaming the Tombs of Higher Ed

This paper considers the academy, i.e., the proverbial ivory tower, as a sort of empire that occupies and overwhelms those in its shadow. Like the Geresene demoniac in the Gospel of Luke, there are many living among the tombs of lost careers and relationships in higher education. The graves are filled with those who could not publish, or publish enough, and have perished. I find myself among the tombs. How does it feel to grieve such a loss? How does one exhume the bodies for an autopsy? Engaging theories of affect in conversation with the Lukan story of the Geresene demoniac, I argue for affective eulogizing that attends to the mourning and open grief of what has been lost.