Mosher Alumni House
Speakers: Martha Biondi (Black Studies, Northwestern University); Robin D. G. Kelley (History, UCLA); and Sohail Daulatzai (Film and Media Studies, UC Irvine)
This roundtable examines how the meaning and practice of academic freedom changed after 9/11, especially through securitization, racialization, and attacks on the critical study of difference. The discussion will consider the limits of academic freedom as a legal or procedural framework and ask what kinds of institutional forms, alliances, and struggles are needed to defend and remake critical spaces within the university.
Martha Biondi is the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Black Studies at Northwestern University. Her work focuses on African American history, social movements, higher education, and the Black freedom struggle.
Robin D. G. Kelley is Distinguished Professor and the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. He is a historian of Black radical movements, labor, culture, and the African diaspora.
Sohail Daulatzai is Professor of Film and Media Studies at UC Irvine. His work examines race, empire, Islam, popular culture, and the politics of representation.
This roundtable is part of the Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Just Futures: Academic Freedom and Democratic Cultures organized by UCSB’s Area Global Initiative.