{"id":149400,"date":"2023-01-31T10:28:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T09:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=149400"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:37","slug":"woke-culture-and-academic-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/01\/31\/woke-culture-and-academic-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Woke culture and academic freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of students at the UvA are demanding the departure of Laurens Buijs, a diversity and inclusion researcher at the university. The reason is an opinion piece he wrote in the university magazine Folia<\/em><\/a> \u2013 which became national news: \u2018Woke culture threatens academic freedom in the social sciences.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>, \t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In the piece, Buijs presents himself as a whistleblower: \u201cOf course I don\u2019t mind if people disagree with me in the academic arena; that\u2019s part of a healthy academic debate. But I\u2019m increasingly being made to feel that I\u2019m a \u2018bad person\u2019 who has no right to speak, despite the fact that I have scientific expertise, conduct research and publish on the positions I\u2019m taking\u201d, Buijs says.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018When these kinds of Twitter conflicts arise, I tend to quickly disengage\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Education and research at the UvA are said to be increasingly dictated by prescribed political views, in which a growing number of words are not allowed and topics are not discussed. So much so that Buijs \u2013 who once saw himself as part of the woke movement \u2013 no longer feels safe: a feeling that seems to be confirmed by the call for his resignation. Controversy and political infighting broke out on social media, fuelled in part by the parties Bij1 and Forum. When these kinds of Twitter conflicts arise, I tend to quickly disengage (this is also the reason why I\u2019m not on Twitter). Still, the matter is relevant, if we want to understand where the unease comes from in the debate on woke culture and academic freedom.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ontwaakt, verworpenen der aarde!<\/em>\u2019 is the opening of The Internationale<\/em>, the old anthem of the social movement. \u2018Awaken\u2019 is often the first word in English translations. \u2018Woke culture\u2019 stems from these emancipation movements of workers and women. Part of that emancipation is claiming a place in society: a place for the words and the images that belong to your group. The freedom to be who you want to be. Buijs conducts research into diversity and inclusion and is part of this emancipation movement. At the same time, he says he wants to warn against a shift that has taken place: when ideas are being forced upon others \u2013 and those who think otherwise should lose their jobs.<\/p>\n

Gijs van Oenen, a colleague at ESPhil, wrote a book about this shift titled Cultural battlefields: Philosophy of the culture wars<\/a><\/em>. In the book, he describes how the emphasis on group identities \u2013 based on sex, colour, religion or origin \u2013 can lead to the exclusion of other people, and even to intimidation. Van Oenen explains how this is done by politicians on both the right and left. Woke culture could very well contribute to academic freedom, if it gives people the confidence that they too can make their voices heard. It can also threaten that academic freedom, when political views are forced upon others, or when people who express criticism are denied the right to speak. The university is a place for experimentation: where we do not judge each other\u2019s politics, but give each other space.<\/p>\n\t

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Ronald van Raak is professor of Erasmian values.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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