Webinar 1

The Criminalisation of Student Activism and the Idea of Academic Freedom in India

This webinar was held on 23 January 2021
Listen to the recording on our YouTube channel here
See the webinar summary below
See key messages on our Instagram account here
See additional resources list below

Webinar Summary

India has seen an alarming rise in the imprisonment of students and young academics, as well as restrictions on academic activities that are critical of the ruling powers. Instances of everyday violence on university campuses are largely left unpunished and foster an environment of fear. Students from historically oppressed castes as well as minority religious backgrounds face systemic discrimination and exclusion from higher education, with women from these groups being hit the hardest. These developments are concurrent with a cultivation of anti-intellectual discourses in academic spaces in India. The webinar will highlight the vital role of student activism in university spaces in India.

Our guest speakers

Professor Apoorvanand, Hindi Department, University of Delhi

Nabiya Khan, a poet and an activist

Hadif Nisar, student activist, and President of the Jammu and Kashmir Students' Association, University of Hyderabad

Our moderator

Aman Abhishek, Doctoral Student, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This webinar is co-hosted by InSAF India, Scholars At Risk, the British Association for South Asian Studies, and the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam, University College London, and the SIU University Honors Program