Academic activism in time of war: Voices from Ukraine

Abstract

This piece sheds light on the significance of academic activism in time of war. Drawing on the voices of Ukrainian academics, we explore different practices of academic activism in Ukraine and develop interrelations of synergy, overshadowing, and decoupling between academia and activism. In the extreme context of war, the relationship between academia and activism, typically conceptualized as symbiotic, may manifest frictions that threaten to undermine academia as a realm of critical reflection and contemplation. Following this, we call on scholars to reject the notion of academic activism as a departure from the so-called ivory tower, and to defend that citadel as a prerequisite and bulwark for the activism they practice.