Descartes Centre Topic Day on "Academia and Activism“

"Academia and activism"

The urgency and the inter-/transdisciplinary appeal of this topic need not be argued for – the term “Academia” is adopted here to not only cover the different types of academic disciplines, from the humanities and the social sciences to the natural sciences and medicine, but to also include the academic institutions qua institutions. What we are interested in during this day – in accordance with the Descartes Centre’s mission – , are questions at the interplay between broader conceptual questions and concrete practices, and in how this relates to questions concerning the role of science and of scientific institutions.

We organize this day together with institutions and colleagues throughout the university (and, this being a first and therefore also somewhat experimental event, we start on a moderate scale, with the intention to explore this format, and to take this as a first step towards larger events); this topic also comes forth from discussions within the UU’s “Open Science”-movement. 

Dr. Thomas Fossen (Leiden University) will give a special lecture: Should Scholars Protest?

Call for contributions

We again invite you to contribute ideas and suggestions for brief presentations (10 minutes) or for activities together with the students! We can still accommodate your proposals (via p.g.ziche@uu.nl and/or infodescartescentre@uu.nl).

Here are some of the more specific questions that we may discuss – these are intended as suggestions and examples; we want to invite your ideas for topics that we can discuss during this event:

• Is academia inherently activist, by virtue of its critical spirit? Or should academia, or should ‘science’ (in the broad sense of the term) be neutral and thus refrain from activism? (So we may also question the “and” in the title – should that rather be an “and/or”?)
• Is science-based activism different from other forms of activism?
• Is activism a challenge to ideals such as the free exchange of ideas within the scientific community?
• Can an institution, qua institution, be activist, or is this an attitude or form of activity that needs to come from individuals?
• Is activism a form of public engagement? Very concretely: should we include activist activities in the UU’s rewards-and-recognitions schemes? How does activism relate to the societal responsibility of the scientist?
• How activist should the UU be in its communication strategies? How does science-based activism make us of specific media?
• What is the role of symbols in activist activities – the gown, the lab-coat? What are the symbolically relevant venues for science-base activism?
• Whom is an academic representing when they participate in activist activities, wearing the professorial gown or a lab-coat? Themselves? The university? ‘Academia’? ‘Science’? This question clearly has legal implications as well as conceptual ones.
• What should be the role of activism in teaching at universities? Should we train students to become activists?
• How do colleagues in academic administration, communication and other support roles come into contact with issues relating to activism?
• A very generic question: All of these problems come together in a asking: What are the boundaries of ‚activism‘? What is the room to maneuver? And how do we keep an open dialogue  on setting new boundaries?