Abstract
As McDaid and McGlynn state, “[u]niversities are… key sites of contestation in the contemporary culture wars and have faced robust critique from both the left and right” (2020: 157). What is more, with “often unsubstantiated” (ibid.) allegations by certain student groups, the boundaries of controversial subjects are expanding and the teaching stuff — including all positions in the academic ranks — are under self-surveillance. Is the classroom discursively monitored to curb “critical” thinking — as Nazi Germany curbed unwanted speech (Cf. Mintcheva 2016)? Or is this culture war in the university actually a healthy and ‘just’ movement as it, for one thing, discourages ‘intellectualizing’ the hurt feelings of the historically victimized populations and eliminates hate speech? Under the current contestation, to teach ‘freedom of speech’ freely and without restraint itself became a matter of constraint (Whickman 2020). Is this a matter of a contradiction between intellectual freedom and social responsibility? Or does framing the matter into dichotomy, instead of complements, signal a particular political position in the contestation? Using two cases in an academic setting, the purpose of this paper is to deepen the thoughts on the link and tension between the need of diversity in social science university education on the one hand, and the academic freedom acutely voiced in a separate setting. Although these two subjects are seemingly independent, in the classroom setting, these two issues are increasingly intersected. The paper delves into the nature of the tension and propose some potential solutions to ease the tensions.
Presenters
Michiko AramakiLecturer, Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Quebec, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
ACADEMIC FREEDOM, IDENTITY POLITICS, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DIVERSITY
