Contradiction Studies

Breaking) Barriers in Academia: Mapping the Field

Sonja Drobnic (SOCIUM, U Bremen), Dora Simunovic (BIGSSS, U Bremen) Nelson Sindze Wembe (RTG Contradiction Studies & BIGSSS U Bremen) & Lisa Spanka (Equal Opportunities Office, U Bremen)

06/13/2023 1:00 pm 3:00 pm

BIGSSS, Konferenzraum, Mary Somerville Str. 7 (UNICOM Building, 3rd Floor)

Part of the lecture series NAVIGATING ACADEMIA organized by BIGSSS & the RTG Contradiction Studies

The dominant understanding of academia assumes that beneficial participation for all involved (students, early career researchers, academic staff…) is based primarily on the ability to make a valuable intellectual contribution to research. In reality, however, universities – and higher education as a whole – are complex social systems in which the agency and access of each individual is determined in multiple ways, including by gender, ethnicity, social class, and health status. These determinations can create powerful cultural and social barriers and inequalities. In the panel discussion “(Breaking) Barriers in Science: Mapping the Field,” we will try to overcome the taboo of not addressing them, identify the most common types of barriers, consider strategies for addressing them, and narrow down the future content of our Navigating Academia series.

Discussants

Prof. Dr. Sonja Drobnic SOCIUM | U Bremen

Dr. Dora Simunovic BIGSSS | U Bremen

Nelson Sindze Wembe | RTG Contradiction Studies & BIGSSS | U Bremen

Dr. Lisa Spanka Equal Opportunities Office | U Bremen

Moderated by
Dr. Christian Peters BIGSSS | U Bremen

Back to overview
ideal of a contradiction-free world

“Science has long been animated by the ideal of a contradiction-free world in which logical orders could merge with society, politics, culture and language. In the GRC Contradiction Studies we are working on ways of describing the multiplicity and complexity, the danger and beauty of our worlds that clearly go beyond concepts of freedom from contradiction.”

Michi Knecht
coherence in thought

“The imperative of non-contradiction generally produces a coherence in thought that is often at odds with social complexities.”

Yan Suarsana
power and resistance

“Michel Foucault says: “Where there is power, there is resistance, and […] this resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power” (History of Sexuality I, The Will to Knowledge, 1976, p. 95)”

Gisela Febel
articulate

“Contradictions need to be articulated in order to exist.”

Martin Nonhoff
Is contradiction eurocentric?

“Is contradiction a eurocentric concept, operational phenomenon, and instrument of power?”

Kerstin Knopf