Now you see me – Climate justice and protest in an academic context

• In Event: The protest within: How to cope with protest academically vs. academic protesting?

Proposal

In the context of the climate movements, it has been increasingly pointed out that the consequences of climate-damaging actions are at the expense of certain groups in particular: these are, for example, inhabitants of the Global South or socially and economically marginalised groups in the Global North. These groups are disadvantaged in several ways: they are exploited for the production of goods that contribute to the climate problem (for example, when working in mines in Africa). They are also played off against each other as workforce in the capitalist system. Due to their geographical origin, they are more often affected by extreme weather events than other people/parts of the world. Against the backdrop of a changing climate, new (or old?) forms of knowledge transfer and local cooperation can now be explored. For example, collaborative work and the exchange of work tools are increasingly being practised again - out of the necessity of survival. Indigenous (local) knowledge is also being called upon again to deal with changing circumstances. And consequently, the concept of justice is challenged again.
If the university is understood as a place that must take up and explore current issues, then climate justice must also be one of the topics in university life. But even with this topic, it becomes clear how much the public assignment of “finding answers to current issues” or “comprehensive solutions to urgent problems” demands universities, disciplines, curricula, teachers and researchers. But still, teaching and researching climate-related topics or climate justice is sometimes framed as “fashion topic” and questioned by those who “don’t believe in climate change.”
Based on a lecture on climate justice, the presentation will address the following questions: 1. To what extent should relevant topics beyond canonised knowledge be negotiated at the university? Related to this: Does interdisciplinary teaching and learning make sense from an educational perspective? Is it the university's task to take up publicly debated, topical issues in teaching? 2. Who is invited to represent their knowledges, point of view, and interest at universities? Are activists allowed or should they be given space to present themselves and their ideas, should they get this kind of publicity? 3. Is activism –and leaving the field of research– a duty of university lecturers/teachers/researchers if their research is intended to further develop certain social, cultural, political and, in this case, climat-related fields? Or, put differently: Is academia allowed to be apolitical?

Author

• Sabine Krause, Université de Fribourg