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Defending academic freedom in an age of post-truth
Abstract
This paper situates the struggle for academic freedom and university autonomy at Boğaziçi University within the broader framework of post truth. Post truth is defined as a disinvestment from long-established norms regulating what counts as true, without introducing new criteria in their place. As such, it is a state of constant disorientation. The main argument is that post truth has a material power basis: it is neither an intellectual problem, nor one that can be solved by recourse to liberal rights. By briefly showing how neoliberalism, the New Right and biopolitical governmentality connect and reinforce each other, the paper asks what academic freedom can signify given the new game of power. What is it about the current political conjuncture that makes universities a particularly important target for right wing politics, not only by “Eastern despots,” but also by the supposedly democratic governments of the West? What forms of power and domination intersect in such offensives against universities? What do the protests and their particular forms and language reveal about the current state of universities? What kind of future do academic struggles harbor?
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