ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the practice of writing in higher education. As supervisors, the authors experience students as insecure and careful writers, often struggling with a great deal of discomfort during the process. As writers, the authors also (to varying degrees) experience discomfort. The chapter explores this discomfort. It is argued that there are certain paradoxical properties inherent in writing that create discomfort. But it is also argued that there are structural dynamics of higher education that enhances this discomfort. The push towards learning as a productive activity found within neo-liberal within stifles and delegitimizes the confusion and struggle of studying. It is argued that writing in higher education is a process of study and thus always will entail a certain amount of discomfort. It is, however, also argued that the anxiety that follows from a neo-liberal performance pressure inhibits good writing.
