The Academic as Activist

Since the late nineteenth century, the modern research university has struggled with questions about When is the researcher participating in engaged scholarship? When does engagement suggest, instead, a lack of objectivity? How have economists, anthropologists, biologists, and historians tried to contribute to the common good, and where have their efforts broken barriers of privilege, and when have their efforts contributed to further oppression? This seminar will look at debates over the role of academics in political life. Topics may include: Fabian socialism, libertarianism and development economics, pan-African movements, and the Green Revolution.