- Luca Pes, Università di Trento
Abstract
The seminar reflects on academic freedom in Africa through the biographies of four researchers at a relatively early stage of their career. Aged from 30 to 50, two males and two females, two working in Mali in the field of economics and two aboard in anthropology. The four interviews will aim at unpacking the notion of academic freedom by reflecting on topics such as the material constraints of academic work, the institutional environment of academia, the boundary between academic and consultancy work. The hypothesis underlying the analysis is that, in the eyes of these African researchers, academic freedom looks less as an aspect of a basic, universal human right connected to democratic participation and freedom of speech. Rather, it must be seen in the context of current and more complex dynamics in African societies.