Beyond Solidarity and Academic Freedom
A conversation between Luther Blissett and Karen Eliot
"Over the past year there have been an increasing number of attacks on the activities of radicals and progressives in the academy. These attacks have both occurred in the US (with the media circus around Ward Churchill and the attempts to pin trumped bioterrorism charges on Steve Kurtz from the Critical Art Ensemble) to the controversy around the invited appearance of Antonio Negri at a conference in Australia. Most recently Yale anthropologist David Graeber has been fired under somewhat dubious circumstances that appear to be largely politically motivated.
As argued by Angela Mitropoulos in her article ‘Physiognomy of Civilisation’1 it is not the truth or falsity of the claims that matter for making them is damaging enough in itself. Furthermore, it is not enough to fall back on claims of academic freedom or appeals to the status of being a philosopher or well respected academic. For if there existed a space in the alleged ivory towers where this kind of protection was afforded (which is doubtful to begin with), this very depoliticization of knowledge often served to mask other forms of nefarious power and dealings.
more here in: ephemera, theory & politics in organization, notes from the general intellect, volume 5 (2005)4: pp. 643-651
A conversation between Luther Blissett and Karen Eliot
"Over the past year there have been an increasing number of attacks on the activities of radicals and progressives in the academy. These attacks have both occurred in the US (with the media circus around Ward Churchill and the attempts to pin trumped bioterrorism charges on Steve Kurtz from the Critical Art Ensemble) to the controversy around the invited appearance of Antonio Negri at a conference in Australia. Most recently Yale anthropologist David Graeber has been fired under somewhat dubious circumstances that appear to be largely politically motivated.
As argued by Angela Mitropoulos in her article ‘Physiognomy of Civilisation’1 it is not the truth or falsity of the claims that matter for making them is damaging enough in itself. Furthermore, it is not enough to fall back on claims of academic freedom or appeals to the status of being a philosopher or well respected academic. For if there existed a space in the alleged ivory towers where this kind of protection was afforded (which is doubtful to begin with), this very depoliticization of knowledge often served to mask other forms of nefarious power and dealings.
more here in: ephemera, theory & politics in organization, notes from the general intellect, volume 5 (2005)4: pp. 643-651
kg2u - am Mittwoch, 25. Januar 2006, 12:34 - Rubrik: Kunst und Politik
