Academics in a Century of Displacement

July 01 | 18:00

Book presentation: Academics in a Century of Displacement. The Global History and Politics of Protecting Endangered Scholars. 2024. Springer

About this book
The notion of "endangered scholars," although historically rooted, has taken on a new dimension in recent years. Embedded in the broader context of the 20th and 21st centuries, it refers to those intellectuals who, after long years of work and integration in their society of origin, are forced to seek refuge in foreign host countries. While the urgency of this issue is glaring, it is nevertheless rooted in a rich and complex historical context. From the exile of Russian intellectuals after 1917 to the protection of Jewish refugees during World War II, from the fate of Algerian thinkers in recent history to that of persecuted Turkish academics today, this work shows how, over more than a century, the modalities of inclusion, transnational networks, and the agency of endangered scholars have both maintained a surprising stability and adapted to successive contexts.
This collective volume, the result of interdisciplinary collaboration, explores this phenomenon in its historical, political, and legal dimensions. It brings together experts in forced migration and intellectual studies, but also researchers who are themselves living in exile today. By tracing the genesis of this global history of the protection of endangered scholars, from the early years of the 20th century to the present day, this book makes a major contribution to research on the exile of intellectuals at the intersection of studies on refugees, migration, the history of higher education, and the contemporary history of societies.
An essential work for grasping a crucial challenge of our time, which nevertheless remains largely unknown.

This event is organized in partnership with the Academic Freedom Week of the Humboldt University.

• With:
• Pascale Laborier (Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, University Paris Nanterre, Nanterre cedex, France),
• Leyla Dakhli (CMB) and
• Frank Wolff (Modern History, Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
• Nazan Maksudyan (CMB)

Introductory words: Jay Rowell (CMB-director)
Moderation: © Silvia von Steinsdorff (Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, HU Berlin)

Photo Credits: Pierre-Jerôme Adjedj / Poser pour la Liberté

Contact

Leyla Dakhli
leyla.dakhli  ( at )  cmb.hu-berlin.de

Location