Academic Boycotts – Perspectives on the current situation

Date and time: Monday April 4, 15.15-17.00

Location: Casesal 12:228, Blåsenhus and on zoom

European academia has responded swiftly to Russia’s attack on Ukraine by condemning the war, and by imposing types of sanctions on Russian academic and cultural institutions. This is not the first time boycotts are used against intellectual and cultural agents, and there is a wide body of research on such sanctions in other places and at other times. Yet this knowledge, it seems, is not present in the shaping of current university policies. There is a need for reflection on the issue of academic relations in the time of crises.  Do academic boycotts work? What are their effects? How are universities to collaborate internationally in a responsible way in times of acute crisis, where universities should contribute productively to strengthen democracies?

This seminar focuses on academic boycotts in general, and seeks to provide a wider perspective on international academic relations and their political and social context. It gathers scholars who will give broader and deeper perspectives on academic sanctions and their effects on democracy and higher education from both historical and comparative angles. Some examples will come from boycott movements against Israel and apartheid in South Africa.

Speakers include (in order of appearance)

• Professor, Andreas Åkerlund, Södertörns Högskola
• Professor, Dr. Yehuda Goodman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Professor, Dr. Dmitry Dubrovsky, National Endowment for Democracy
• Professor, Salim Vally, University of Johannesburg
• Professor, Anna Jonson Cornell, Uppsala University

The presentations will be followed by a discussion.

For questions, contact program director, Democracy and Higher Education, Linda Wedlin, linda.wedlin@fek.uu.se

All welcome!