Academic freedom in times of COVID-19

26 Mar 2020
26 Mar 2020

In this first think piece, the Corona Times editorial team calls for sober, balanced and brave analyses that contribute towards better understanding the global implications of the #Covid_19 #pandemic; emphasising the need for #social #scientists and #scholars to rethink and adapt theoretical concepts and practices of academic freedom to untangle the current moment.

The read:

Academic freedom in times of COVID-19

The magnitude and scope of the events put in motion by the spread of the virus call for timely and rigorous interventions by scholars in the social sciences and humanities.  We are in dire need of sober, balanced but also brave analyses to better understand the global implications of the pandemic – what is happening, what kind of challenge this is, how we got here and where it is that we might be going.

Yet, it is also hard to imagine, in such difficult circumstances, that people have the time and fortitude to prioritise what could be seen as intellectual abstraction, as they have done in recent times when major events took the spotlight, be it Brexit, Trump's 2016 victory or mass protests such as #Occupy, #BlackLivesMatter or #RhodesMustFall. It is hard to envisage that the style and content of the analyses will just be a continuation of what has become in recent years “business as usual”.

One thing is clear: academic debate and pluralism can help us grapple with the many uncertainties provoked by the virus. The epidemiological data is emerging, but still limited. Even more obscure are the socio-cultural, political and economic implications of the pandemic. [...]

 Read full article