Activism, social movements and Higher Education: changing attitudes, dynamics and expectations

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Activism in higher education is often equated with radicalism. The latter, while in the past used to carry positive connotations, in recent years it has been tainted as invidious or even dangerous. Despite our living in ‘risk societies’, higher education is uncomfortable with risk and activism is increasingly classified as an act of high risk. Acts of dissent, protests, demonstrations- even campaigns that are not detrimental to HEIs’ interests- are viewed cautiously in an increasingly commodified and marketised HE which is concerned more with its image rather than its ethos. Students and staff activists are often silenced, marginalised or even expelled from universities. However, dissidents, from Socrates to Rosa Luxemburg, and from Angela Davis to Paulo Freire, have given the academy the tools with which to analyse, understand and appreciate freedom of thought and critical thinking as preconditions for radical democracy.
This panel will explore some pertinent topics:
1. Why is contemporary academia uncomfortable with activism?
2. How are dissenting voices represented in curricula, policies and other formal texts?
3. What differences are there in the way HEIs in the global North and South approach activism?
4. What are the intellectual, pedagogic, epistemological, methodological and other contributions of activism in HE?
5. How can HE work with activists to tackle the global challenges of our times?
We aim to bring together a panel of academic-activists, trade unionists, organic intellectuals and radical thinkers who work with social movements, unions and civic society organisations to expand thinking and praxis around protests and ‘dissident events’. The panel will discuss alternative spaces within and outside HE where dissident voices and disruptive ideas thrive. It will also explore ways in which protests can lead to renewed epistemologies and social ontologies within HE and more broadly as well as instantiations of solidarity, prefigurative politics and visions of utopia that stem from acts of dissent. We will explore such acts in curricula, relations, structures and policies for and of HE with reference to specific HEIs in which we work and conduct our research. The panel will synthesise insights, research and ideas from the global South and the global North, and it will strive to include the voices, experiences and ideas of the least represented, such as Indigenous, marginalised and excluded populations.

Sub Unit

• 21st Century Educational Alternatives: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Patriarchy, Militarism, and the Climate Crisis

Chair

• Alpesh MAISURIA, University of the West of England, Bristol

Individual Presentations

• Freire and Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm in Multilingualism Classrooms for Solidarity, Inclusion and Diversity - Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY

• Sociologies and Ecopedagogies for Activism Against Environmental Wicked Problems: Countering Neoliberalization and Apoliticization of Higher Education - Greg William Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University