Hi Caroline: I am glad that you've raised these point concerning the situation of freedom of speech and shady dealings at Arhaus University. I'm often reminded of something that Priyamvada Gopal wrote on Facebook a while back: "Academics are interesting in that they don't mind collusion with institutional powers, or writing long essays about Gramsci, ideology and consent, but are deeply offended if the problem of their own collusion and consent--and participation in institutional corruption and relations of domination and subservience-- is raised. Why is this? Are they except from the processes that they are happy to identify at work in the rest of society?" Of course, a good majority of leading universities are complicit in financing or allowing for questionable research. These projects put the most vulnerable of society, people of color, working class folks, and those in developing countries in dire risk, as they are used, often times without their knowledge, as research subjects for questionable health/social projects. How many academics have been handsomely rewarded by their institutions for projects that have hindered the lives of and/or contributed to the deaths the of the vulnerable? Instead of just researching the inequalities that exist in society, we in academia need to be aware and to fight the corruption inside our own institutions. Academia cannot exist without the freedom to ask challenging and difficult questions and to express these views without the threat of dismissal or other such cowardly acts. Best wishes: Sanaz On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 3:16 PM, MC Cambre <mcambre@ualberta.ca> wrote:
Hi All, The course sounds amazing. Just a friendly note on Aarhus University that some may wish to be aware of. The academic freedom situation appears to be problematic. I am not advising to act one way or another, just an awareness thing regarding ethically significant issues and how we implicate ourselves. I was going to apply for a position at Aarhus but changed my mind after looking into this matter (available on wikipedia for what that is worth!) Cheminova controversy and academic freedom at AU
Aarhus University is the owner of the chemical manufacturer Cheminova, who controversially has been selling the methyl parathion pesticide to Brazil farmers.[41] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarhus_University#cite_note-42>
(you may or may not know that this is not simply a "controversial" pesticide, but in fact a deadly one, especially to bees)
In 2009, senior researcher Mette Jensen emailed her colleagues at AU, asking whether they thought Cheminova should stop selling the controversial pesticides. For this, the university threatened her with dismissal.[42]< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarhus_University#cite_note-43>
The university's Pro-Vice-Chancellor Søren E. Frandsen denies that the university had made any mistakes or threatened the freedom of speech and academic freedom of its staff.[43]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarhus_University#cite_note-44> HERE IS LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarhus_University
Kind regards, Carolina
On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Annette Markham <amarkham@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Lori Kendall and I are teaching a PhD course at Aarhus University in a couple of weeks. If you know anyone who might be interested, we still have about three seats remaining. This is the second time we've taught this course and it seems to be a good success.
Title: Pathways to Meaning: Analytical tools for qualitative researchers of digital media Dates: Tuesday, August 27 (noon) until Friday, August 30, 2013 Location: Aarhus University, Denmark Basic Description: http://www.markham.internetinquiry.org/teaching/pathways/ Reading list: http://www.markham.internetinquiry.org/2013/08/pathwaysreadinglist2013/
Contact me you're interested and I'll be happy to give you more information. Feel free to pass this along to colleagues who might be interested and able to attend,
Best,
annette
***************************************************** Annette N. Markham, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Aesthetics & Communication, Aarhus University Guest Professor, Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago amarkham@gmail.com http://markham.internetinquiry.org/ Twitter: annettemarkham _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
--
-- Carolina Cambre PhD http://ualberta.academia.edu/mariacarolinacambre/About
This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not waive any related rights and obligations. Any distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information it contains by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. If you received this e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise) immediately. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Sanaz Raji +44 (0) 780 7873 550 Web: http://leeds.academia.edu/SanazRaji