Letters From the Graveyard: Exiled Academics’ Experiences After Losing Academic Freedom in Turkey

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 4:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: The Freedom and Stories in Higher Ed Multicultural Issues (Table 1)

Abstract

Academic freedom protects academics’ rights to teach and research freely, yet it faces threats, particularly in authoritarian regimes. Since 2016, the Turkish government’s assaults on academic freedom have surged, targeting academics allegedly linked to a social movement, Kurdish issues, and the signatories of a peace petition. This study used a constructivist ground theory to explore how 24 Turkish academics made sense of their experiences of losing academic freedom and escaping from Turkey to live in exile. Multiple data sources were analyzed using constant comparison methods. This presentation examines participants’ efforts to rebuild their lives in exile while grappling with the loss of their lives and livelihoods in Turkey and their fears of President Erdoğan’s transnational campaign to silence dissent abroad.

Authors

• Clarisse Halpern, Florida Gulf Coast University

• Hasan Aydin, Florida Gulf Coast University