3 Academic Activism in Higher Education: A Dialectic of Resistance and Surrender in a Time of Neoliberalism

The historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts of academic activism have been marked by the structural crises of capitalism, which, along with the emergence of neoliberalism, have sought to change the Academy and disciplines. The disciplinary impacts of neoliberal policies outside and within the academy have all influenced students, academics, and management in differing ways. Furthermore, academic activism in higher education requires a debate on the function of education, the role of the university along with disciplines, and exploration of the importance of ideology in relation to human emancipation or alienation. So too this debate should consider whether academia and activism occupy separate worlds in a discursive strategy to disqualify the legitimacy, cogency, or efficacy of academic activism. The economic and managerial consolidation of the neoliberal university has intensified the challenges of activism and resistance within academic disciplines as well as for individuals. This paper aims to explore the legacy of neoliberal change within academia, identifying the opportunities and need for activism within the Academy. Using an argumentative literature review supported by the critical reflection of the authors’ experiences within the academy in Brazil and the UK, we explore the contemporary challenge and the need to utilise the contradictions of the current system to work collaboratively and to be engaged as public intellectuals.