Academic Freedom in a Democratic South Africa

Essays and Interviews on Higher Education and the Humanities

John Higgins - Foreword by J.M. Coetzee

How do we understand academic freedom today? Does it still have relevance in a global
reconfiguring of higher education in the interests of the economy, rather than the public
good? And locally, is academic freedom no more than an inconvenient ideal, paid lip service
to South Africa’s Constitution as an individual right, but neglected in institutional practice?

This book argues that the core content of academic freedom—the principle of supporting and
extending open intellectual enquiry—is essential to realizing the full public value of higher
education. John Higgins emphasizes the central role that the humanities, and the particular forms of
argument and analysis they embody, bring to this task.

Each chapter embodies the particular force of a critical literacy in action, one which brings
into play the combined force of historical inquiry, theoretical analysis, and precise attention
to the textual dynamics of all statement so as to challenge and confront the received ideas of
the day. These provocative analyses are complemented by probing interviews with three key
figures from the Critical Humanities: Terry Eagleton, who discusses the deforming effects of
managerialism in British universities; Edward W. Said, who argues for increased recognition of
the democratizing force of the humanities; and Jakes Gerwel, who presents some of the most
recent challenges for the realization of a humanist politics in South Africa.

University Press Copublishing Division / Bucknell University Press

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6⅛ x 9

978-1-61148-598-1 • Paperback • September 2014 • $68.99 • (£53.00)

978-1-61148-599-8 • eBook • September 2014 • $65.50 • (£50.00)

Subjects: Education / Administration / Higher, Education / Leadership, Education / Higher

Academic Freedom in a Democratic South Africa

Essays and Interviews on Higher Education and the Humanities

Paperback

eBook

Summary

How do we understand academic freedom today? Does it still have relevance in a global
reconfiguring of higher education in the interests of the economy, rather than the public
good? And locally, is academic freedom no more than an inconvenient ideal, paid lip service
to South Africa’s Constitution as an individual right, but neglected in institutional practice?

This book argues that the core content of academic freedom—the principle of supporting and
extending open intellectual enquiry—is essential to realizing the full public value of higher
education. John Higgins emphasizes the central role that the humanities, and the particular forms of
argument and analysis they embody, bring to this task.

Each chapter embodies the particular force of a critical literacy in action, one which brings
into play the combined force of historical inquiry, theoretical analysis, and precise attention
to the textual dynamics of all statement so as to challenge and confront the received ideas of
the day. These provocative analyses are complemented by probing interviews with three key
figures from the Critical Humanities: Terry Eagleton, who discusses the deforming effects of
managerialism in British universities; Edward W. Said, who argues for increased recognition of
the democratizing force of the humanities; and Jakes Gerwel, who presents some of the most
recent challenges for the realization of a humanist politics in South Africa.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Bucknell University Press

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6⅛ x 9

978-1-61148-598-1 • Paperback • September 2014 • $68.99 • (£53.00)

978-1-61148-599-8 • eBook • September 2014 • $65.50 • (£50.00)

Subjects: Education / Administration / Higher, Education / Leadership, Education / Higher

Author

John Higgins is Arderne Chair of Literature at the University of Cape Town and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Reviews

"Must universities starve themselves to death in order to stand up for their principles? Noted cultural critic John Higgins has written a book about much more than what Americans call ‘academic freedom.' Taking up a perspective that is defiantly located 'offshore,' Higgins shows in brilliant and intriguing detail how the humanities in post-apartheid South Africa have suffered both from American-style corporate instrumentalism and from what he calls 'applied nationalism' and how much democracy stands to lose thereby. This is a world-scale contribution to the university’s never more than partially realized challenge of figuring out what cultural literacy should be and how it can be defended."

— Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

"Higgins' account of the predicaments of the humanities in the new South Africa reflects issues that are being encountered all over the world, and not least in the United States. His retelling of episodes in the anti-apartheid student movement in the 1980's is uncannily resonant with questions raised by the current BDS movement against Israel, and his reflections on the demise of a liberal arts tradition under pressure from global neoliberal technologism are an important resource for all of us who are faced with giving an account of ourselves in an outcomes-driven academic environment."

— David Simpson, G.B. Needham Chair in English at the University of California, Davis