FeesMustFall protests at the University of Cape Town, October 2015
By Discott – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44418178
Following a successful call for short contributions on the theme of academic activism, we are pleased to publish a selection of diverse and thought-provoking reflections on the theme, mirroring and complementing the complexity and richness of views originally captured in the PaTHES webinar Towards a new academic activism (April 2020).
The diversity of perspectives and generosity of reflections emerged in the collective debate almost naturally demanded that we kept the momentum going, revisiting and refining our thinking in relation to academic activism. Considering the relevance of the topic and the interest sparked by the event, we felt it was important to try and capture the complexity, richness and tensions in the discussions by inviting short written contributions.
Among the issues addressed by those who have responded are:
- The need to discuss and promote academic activism today
- The justification of academic activism
- The plural material context and spaces of academic activism
- The expression and positioning of academic activism
- What make activism academic, and vice-versa
We encourage you to engage with this vibrant set of contributions that span a broad range of research fields and perspectives, enriching and taking the debate on academic activism a step further.
Fadia Dakka, Birmingham City University
Luca Morini, Coventry University
On academic activism: a discussion by a (sometimes) academic activist
James Arvanitakis
Western Sydney University
Co-creating and claiming spaces for acts of academic activism
Patric Wallin
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Academic activism: justifying the unjustifiable
Ronald Barnett
University College London
Contribution following the question: How and when is activism academic?
Martin Gough
University of Liverpool
Academic Activism and Intellectual Leadership
Anatoly Oleksiyenko
University of Hong Kong
Academic activism: Meditation on a single breath
Simon McLellan
University of Canterbury
For the other
Søren Bengtsen
Aarhus University
Words without Actions: University statements and the Black Lives Matter movement
Gabriella Muasya, Gritt B. Nielsen, Lærke Anbert & Maya Acharya
Aarhus University
Academic activism and how it gets written
Julia Molinari
University of Nottingham
Foundations of a New Academic Activism: Habermasian Democratization of the University
Tessa DeLaquil
Boston College
Academic Activism in STEM fields: Discipline in Theory and Practice
Camille Kandiko Howson
Imperial College London;
Olga Mun
University of Oxford;
Ruth Walker
University of Cambridge