"The University under Fire: Academic Freedom and Production of Knowledge in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia"

The aim of the workshop is to discuss the issues of academic freedom, academic professions, and the production of knowledge in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia today. Examining the current situation, we will also take a historical perspective. Indeed, if the repression and clamp down on academia following the Arab Springs, the attempted Turkish Coup, and the (rebranding of) authoritarianism in the region, seem extraordinary, pressure on academia and academics is not new.

The workshop will give voice primarily to the academics who have first-hand experience working in these contexts, including doctoral students who shape the future of academia and will discuss the borders and the relationship between academic professions and activism in context of repression.

Programme (TBC)

9.30: Coffee

10.00 – 10.15: Welcome and Presentation, Marc Valeri

10.15 – 12.00: Panel 1 – Modalities of Control and Repression of the Academic Profession in an Historical Perspective
Naif Bezwan (University College London)
Drewery Dyke (Amnesty International)
Abdulhadi Khalaf (Lund University, Sweden)
Chair: Clémence Scalbert Yücel (University of Exeter)

12.00 – 1.00: Lunch

1.00 – 2.45: Panel 2 – The Production of Knowledge: the University and Beyond
Nadwa al-Dawsari (Project on Middle East Democracy, Washington DC)
Sahika Erkonan (Loughborough University London)
Chair: Ilan Pappé (University of Exeter)

2.45-3.15: Coffee

3.15-4.45: Panel 3 – Building Solidarity and Academic Networks
Latefa Guemar (University of East London)
Noémi Lévy-Aksu (Birkbeck University of London)
Chair: John Heathershaw (University of Exeter)