CIVIS announces the organization of the short course „The Right to Disagree: Freedom of Expression, Academic Freedom, and the Populist Challenge in Europe Today”. The programme starts with a short 3-day online preparatory workshop to take place on 28-30 September, 2021. The main part is a Summer School at the University of Tübingen to take place from May 30 to June 10, 2022 (students will travel to Tübingen on May 29 and leave on June 11).
The course aims at contributing to an informed and deep understanding of the right to freedom of expression in contemporary Europe, with a focus on academic freedom and the challenge that (especially right-wing) populism presents today.
The course is opened for CIVIS students from various fields of study: political science, history, sociology, social psychology, communication and media studies, journalism, museology, public law, with English language knowledge (at least level B2). There are 24 scholarships offered within the course and the students will receive 6 ECTS.The interested students should fill the following form until June 30, 2021.
The course has two mandatory parts. The application is for both of them and both have to be attended by all the students accepted for the program! All travel and accommodation efforts have to be handled by the students themselves. Upon the successful application for the program, all participating students will be rewarded CIVIS funding in order to be compensated for their efforts
Content
How is freedom of expression, one of the most crucial fundamental rights of European societies, under attack in today’s Europe? What is populism and why is it a threat to democracy? What is the nature and intention of hate speech? How far should freedom of expression go?
In this course, we will analyse the importance of freedom of expression as a basic human right and as a core value of democratic societies in Europe today. After a short introduction to the most fundamental concepts and terminology, we will focus on the challenges that European societies face and on the role played by populist parties and movements from various scientific perspectives, with a particular interest in how higher education institutions, such as universities, are affected by these (new) actors and their agendas. One aspect of our research will be the dialogue with representatives of organizations that are active in the field of human rights and politics and with witnesses of violations of basic rights.
Teaching Duos: Raquel Bertoldo (Aix Marseille, Social Psychology) and Mauro Sarrica (Rome, Social Psychology); Filippa Chatzistavrou (Athens, Political Science) and Alexis Chapelan (Bucharest, History); Marlen Mouliou (Athens, Museology) and Jan Battke (Tübingen, Political Science); Adriana Stefanel (Bucharest, Communication Studies) and Maria Romana Allegri (Rome, Public Law); Tobias Fernholz (Tübingen, Communication Studies) and Philipp Rhein (Tübingen, Sociology).
More details about this short course are available here, and information regarding short courses organized within CIVIS are available here.
CIVIS is a European Civic University formed by the alliance of nine leading research higher education institutions across Europe: Aix-Marseille Université, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Universitatea din București, Université libre de Bruxelles, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Sapienza Università di Roma, Stockholm University and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. It brings together a community of more than 450,000 students and 65,000 staff members including 30,000 academics and researchers.
