While academia (understood broadly to encompass all institutions of (higher) education) is framed as a space of universal access, its underlying norms, as well as its material and epistemic infrastructures tend to favour already privileged groups and Western knowledges over others. In this symposium, we investigate how such processes of selective or exclusive belonging operate, as well as how to generate spaces that afford more equitable possibilities to belong.
Belonging to Academia invites participants to explore three interrelated sub-themes:
- People: How do policies and practices promote inclusion for staff and students from diverse backgrounds? How is belonging conceptualised and operationalised within academic institutions?
- Knowledges: Which forms of knowledge are recognised as legitimate, and how can other-than-Western knowledge systems be engaged without succumbing to relativism? How can curricula and research embrace epistemic diversity?
- Things: How do material environments—architectures, classrooms, technologies, and resources—facilitate or obstruct belonging? How can material infrastructures shape access and participation for underrepresented groups?
The symposium programme includes:
-
A keynote lecture by Michèle Lamont
-
Paper presentations by invited scholars
-
A surtout de table by Cecilia Hendrikx
-
Breakout sessions on each sub-theme
This event offers a unique opportunity to critically examine the mechanisms and meanings of belonging in/to academia, while reflecting on the insights gained across the Studies of Belonging series.
The symposium is the third and final episode of the NIAS Studies of Belonging series. It also serves as a farewell to Jan Willem Duyvendak and Bernike Pasveer, who will both retire.
Space is limited to 150 participants.
More info & registration
