Anti-Intellectualism, Attacks on Academic Freedom and Illiberal Neoliberalism
This interdisciplinary workshop will address the rise of neoliberal illiberal politics and their connection to anti-intellectualism and discourses around academic freedom. Based on the guest lecture, we will discuss a variety of cases, ranging from the US-American moral panic around ‘Critical Race Theory’, Bolsonaro’s intentional attacks on University funding, discourses around ‘islamo-leftism’ and ‘wokism’ in France to the ban of Gender Studies in Hungary. What do those cases and the growing hostility against researchers tell us about the global state of democracy? How and why are academics and their modes of knowledge production targeted not only by far-right actors but increasingly also by the state?
The workshop is open for students, PhD candidates and Post-Doc researchers from all disciplines.
In preparation of the workshop, participants are asked to read the following chapters from Eric Fassin’s (2024) book State Anti-Intellectualism & the Politics of Gender and Race (available via SUUB):
Introduction: Anti-Intellectualism and the Politics of Truth (pp. 1-23)
Conclusion: Democracy and the Intersectional Politics of Mourning (pp. 149-160)
Epilogue: In the First Person (pp. 161-172)
Registration for the workshop via mail is possible until May 30.