UYK Istanbul Knowledge and Power The New Politics of Higher Education Hans N. Weiler Stanford University

UYK Istanbul THESIS: The contemporary discourse on knowledge suffers from a triple deficit It lacks critical reflection on the fundamental changes in the notion of “knowledge” in the 20 th century. It does not recognize the intensely political nature of the production of knowledge. It does not deal with the necessary changes in higher education.

UYK Istanbul Towards a new concept of knowledge and higher education Recognizing the profound changes in the conception of knowledge (Part 1) Understanding the significance of the politics of knowledge through the discourses of development, gender, and democracy (Part 2) Pointing out the implications for the future of higher education (Part 3)

UYK Istanbul Ashis Nandy and the politics of knowledge “The old, clichéd saying, ‚knowledge is power,’ has acquired a new potency in recent years. For nearly a century it was fashionable to study how interests and material forces of history shaped knowledge. The world that has come into being in the aftermath of World War II seems to have reversed the relationship…

UYK Istanbul …It has forced us to recognize that dominance is now exercised less and less through familiar organized interests, such as class relations, colonialism, military-industrial complexes, multinational corporations, and the nation-states. Dominance is now exercised mainly through categories, embedded in systems of knowledge. … Universities have come to share this new power, for they specialize in handling categories.” (Ashis Nandy 2000, )

UYK Istanbul Part 1 – The changing concept of knowledge 1.1 Challenging the tradition of a “unified science” 1.2 New ways of knowing

UYK Istanbul The “unity of science” and its erosion (1) Questioning the notion of a homogeneous and uniform concept of knowledge Sources and manifestations of change Towards a more differentiated and contingent conception of knowledge The casualties of change: Objectivity, certainty, prediction, quantification

UYK Istanbul The “unity of science” and its erosion (2) General vs. specific and nomothetic vs. ideographic statements Explanation vs. understanding Cognitive, normative, and aesthetic knowledge

UYK Istanbul New ways of knowing Epistemology and the opening of the institutional structures of knowledge production The rehabilitation of “suppressed forms of knowledge” A “third culture” between scientific and literary analysis of social reality

UYK Istanbul Part 2 – The politics of knowledge 2.1 Hierarchies in the production and dissemination of knowledge 2.2 Knowledge and power: A relationship of reciprocal legitimation 2.3 The transnational knowledge system and the international division of labor 2.4 The political economy of the commercialization of knowledge 2.5 The politics of knowledge: 3 discourses

UYK Istanbul Hierarchies in the world of knowledge Hierarchies of knowledge: “Higher” and “lesser” forms of knowledge Hierarchies of knowledge institutions: national and international Hierarchies within institutions: Knowledge and status Challenges to established knowledge hierarchies

UYK Istanbul Knowledge and power Knowledge is in need of legitimation, too Knowledge and power: A relationship of reciprocal legitimation Literary images of expertise: Ethan the historian (Stefan Heym)

The ‘expertization’ of public affairs “As more and more areas of life are ‘scientized’ and taken out of the reach of participatory politics to be handed over to experts, the universities as the final depository of expertise have become a major global political actor of our times. In addition to their other tasks, they legitimize the ‘expertization’ of public affairs and the reign of the professionals.” (Ashis Nandy 2000, p. 116) UYK Istanbul

UYK Istanbul The transnational knowledge system Global disparities and the international division of labor in knowledge production International orthodoxies of knowledge and their institutional supporters Towards a new international knowledge order: “re-drawing the map of world culture” (Böhme and Scherpe 1996)

UYK Istanbul The political economy of the commercialization of knowledge The changing economy of knowledge production The growing knowledge dependency of economic activity New alliances between knowledge and commerce: The story of Silicon Valley The international dimension: GATS

UYK Istanbul The politics of knowledge: Three discourses Development: The role of knowledge in redefining “development” Gender: The politics and the epistemology of feminism Democracy: Democratizing knowledge production and the governance of science

UYK Istanbul Part 3 – The politics of knowledge and the future of higher education 3.1 The politics of knowledge in teaching and research: A new agenda for cultural studies 3.2 Disciplines and the structures of academic power: Resistance to change 3.3 Higher education and the changing role of the state: Autonomy and ambivalence

UYK Istanbul Part 3 – The politics of knowledge and the structures of higher education (cont.) 3.4 The politics of knowledge and the assessment of academic quality: Orthodoxy and renewal; accountability and transparency 3.5 Transnational knowledge and national universities: Critically monitoring the process of globalization

Ceterum censeo … “It is high time that Western societies change from being cultures of lecturing to being cultures of learning” (Lepenies 1997, 40) UYK Istanbul

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