AO3
In this week, we examined an excerpt from "The Imperial University" by Piya Chatterjee and Sunaina Maira. It delves into the concept that the university can be seen as a tool to undertake a "new era of imperialism" to perpetuate sentiments and stimulate exchanges of knowledge that make it feasible for the United States to be involved in other nations in order to expand and increase our power and influence through means of supplying arms, supporting militant groups, etc. In this new era of imperialism, there are three different core elements; military, cultural, and the academic, which ties the other two together. As a militaristic state, we are in continual fear of threat and attack from outside states. "...conceptualization of the imperial university links these fronts of war, for the academic battleground is part of the culture wars that emerge in a militarized nation, one that is always presumably under threat, externally or internally." (Chatterjee and Maira, pg 7.) Additionally, culture and issues of race, class, sexuality, etc. tie into neoliberal ideals and thus, into the larger picture of economic dominance. (Chatterjee and Maira, pg 7) An important frame-work for this reading is the world of post 9/11 United States which sets the precedence for certain sentiments in those three elements.
There are a multitude of different layers that are going to work here, but this reading focuses on the element and the role that the university plays as a cog in the bigger machine of new imperialism. Universities are oftentimes political hot-spots where student bodies and faculty are highly outspoken and fervent about the views and values that they hold. But "The Imperial University" examines how administration deals harshly with dissenters, whose views clash with the the imperialistic interests of the state. Some of the famous incidents that the excerpt mentions are the "Irvine 11" or the "Davis Dozen" where student activists were met harshly with police retaliation. Something interesting to note here is the how university law enforcement agencies are armed to the teeth with military grade tools and the stark contrast between activists and the fully outfitted officers that resembled SWAT team members. Additionally, faculty that had clashing views were oftentimes met with harsh scrutiny from administrators and other faculty, and were often dealt with in indirect ways such as denial of tenure. Because of the universities desire to deal with dissenters, faculty and students alike experience a censorship of knowledge and teaching, in which the article describes as "academic containment." Academic containment is helps contribute to the larger idea within the new age of imperialism which is "manifest knowledge," which bears resemblance to the old American concept of "manifest destiny" where in manifest knowledge, teachings and information is perpetuated that gives us the political "green light" to get involved in other countries because they do not match the same sort of political, cultural, technological, economical, etc. ideals as the United States.
This excerpt has been very opening for me because of the sheer number of layers that are at play here and how this framework of viewing the university is relatively new. It's especially important for me because I myself am a University student and am a part of a system and state that is historically known having very politically outspoken students. I feel like this also tie into to the concept of social engineering because many times as students, we take what we're learning at face value and as true but because of this article and the other things that we have learned in class, we should be more conscious about the things that we are being taught.
Question - What does a university system that does not have intrinsic imperialistic motivations look like? What instead would be taught and what sort of knowledge would be perpetuated? Furthermore, without the imperial university, would the U.S. still have the means and ability to be involved in other countries as it is now?
References
1) Chatterjee, P., & Maira, S. (2014). The Imperial university. London: University of Minnesota Press.
2) Silva, J. (2017, April 8 ). [Anti-imperial mural in Caracas, Venezuela.]. Retrieved October 22, 2017, from http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/venezuelas-anti-us-graffiti-idUSRTR4TOWS
No comments:
Post a Comment