Inaugural conference of CSCUNES - March 17, 2022

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Date: March 17, 2022 

Time: 14:00 - 19:00 (Doors open at 13:45) 

Place: Campus Condorcet, Centre de colloques, Room 100 (on the ground floor near the entrance) 

Address: 8 Cr des Humanités, 93300 Aubervilliers (final stop on line 12, near the exit of Métro Front Populaire) 

This is the inaugural conference of the Centre for Solidarity and Cooperation with Universities of North and East Syria (CSCUNES), organised in collaboration with Laboratoire d'études de genre et de sexualité (LEGS) at Paris 8 University. The Centre was founded in Paris in November 2021 with the aim of organising solidarity with the universities of North and East (NE) Syria through joint projects and academic relations. In organising this conference, we would like to explore, discuss, and contribute to the visions and foundational principles for free, autonomous, and democratic universities. We seek to understand the needs of the four universities of the region (the Universities of Rojava, Kobani, Afrin [currently under occupation], and Al-Sharq) and respond to them by forging solidarity networks in Europe and globally.   

Objectives   

What are the relations between political and social change and higher education? What kind of university do we envision to radically alter our ways of knowledge production? What is the role of anti-capitalist, ecological and feminist as well as decolonial pedagogies in forging social transformation? How can we construct ethically and politically responsible universities under the conditions of neoliberal privatisation of higher education and the crisis in university governance and academic freedom? What epistemological ruptures an alternative university can offer despite protracted wars and the regimes of political suppression? How can we build autonomous and democratic university structures where the radical democratic participation of every single community member is ensured?   

Organising this conference around these questions, we bear witness to praxis of universities in the North and East region of Syria since the Rojava Revolution in 2012. Despite the ongoing invasions and war in the region, the universities of NE Syria continue to integrate the ideals and achievements of this revolution in the curriculum, research programs, and pedagogical approaches. Yet, these universities face serious challenges in making education accessible to the communities due to ongoing embargoes/blockades imposed by neighbouring hostile states. As solidarity has been very central to sustaining the Rojava Revolution, we believe that it is also indispensable for fostering democratic and feminist universities in the region. Participants of this conference will shed light on the many aspects of higher education and its praxis in NE Syria.   

Program  

Welcome Remarks:   

14:00 - 14:15

Prof. Caroline Ibos - (LEGS, Département de science politique -Université Paris-8, Vincennes-Saint Denis) 

Dr. Engin Sustam  - Co-President of CSCUNES   

Panel: Despite All, the University!  

14:15 - 15:45  

Moderator: Somayeh Rostampour, CSCUNES  

L'université sans / sous condition  

Prof. Eric Fassin (LEGS, Département de science politique et Département d’études de genre -Université Paris-8, Vincennes-Saint Denis)  

State-University Relations in the MENA Region: The Bastion of Freedom 

Prof. Shahrzad Mojab (OISE, University of Toronto)  

Building Alternative Universities in North and East Syria  

Rohan Mustafa (the co-president of the Coordination of Universities of NE Syria)  

Solidarités et crises universitaires 

Prof. Pascale Laborier (Paris Nanterre)  

Break:  

15:45 - 16:00  

Roundtable: (Re)Making the University Today: Perspectives on Academic solidarity with Universities of North and East Syria   

16:00 - 17:30   

Moderator: Dr. Yasin Sunca (“World Politics” Research Group, Bielefeld University, Germany and the University of Rojava)  

Dr. Sardar Saadi, CSCUNES  

Video Message from:   

Dr. Abdulilah Al-Mustafa (Co-president of the University of Rojava) 

Shirin Mislim (Co-president of the University of Kobani) 

Dr. Hasan Al-Isa (Co-president of the University of of Al-Sharq)  

Corinne Morel Darleux, Representative from Danielle Mitterrand Foundation (France Liberte),  

A Representative from the Groupe d’étude sur les Universités défendant les libertés

Dr. Ulrike Flader, Representative from the University of Bremen’s initiative with the University of Rojava  

Break:  

17:30 - 17:45  

Keynote Lecture: Academia and Agora: Reflections on Freedom of Research and Democracy 

17:45 - 19:00  

Prof. Hamit Bozarslan, (École des hautes études en sciences sociales | EHESS)  

Moderator:  Gülay Kilicaslan, CSCUNES     

Reception:  

19:30 - 21:00   

@ Le Kibele 

12 Rue de l'Échiquier 

75010 Paris    

(The conference will be held in a hybrid format, both in person and on Zoom webinar. The Keynote Lecture will be live streamed) 

For those who cannot attend the conference in person, please register for the webinar here:   https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dj3u0Nt7TqaEfZQc1NRtCw