Knowledge Under Siege - by Marc Spooner & James McNinch (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

At a time when universities are being defunded by governments and vilified by ultra-conservative pundits, defining their value has never been more urgent

For decades, efforts to quantify the value of universities in dollars and cents led to the corporatization of institutions that are meant to serve their students and society by creating knowledge and teaching--not by turning a profit. Now more than ever, the role of the university in advancing discovery, democracy, equity, and in contributing to its students' success is under siege and needs to be defended.

Knowledge Under Siege picks up where Spooner and McNinch's Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education left off and analyzes today's volatile higher education landscape--one where hostility towards the academy is a growing trend across the globe. Bringing together leading international voices, including Gloria Ladson-Billings, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Christopher Newfield, Kevin Kumashiro, and many others, the book considers how universities are facing unprecedented threats that include defunding, criticism of and the dismantling of initiatives to diversify the academy, academic gag orders, and efforts to undermine tenure and academic freedom. It asks how institutions can resist these incursions while working towards becoming engines of social mobility for a diverse student body (not merely serving the most privileged) and graduating critical thinkers who aspire to build a better world.

There is a consensus in higher education that universities must remain autonomous so that our societies can better understand both our history and our rapidly changing world. Knowledge Under Siege is a call to action to fight for our institutions and make them self-reflexive spaces where truth and learning continue to thrive.

Review Quotes

""A rigorous, urgent call to reframe higher education as a public good worth defending and reimagining.""--Jessica Riddell, Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence at Bishop's University and founder of Hope Circuits Institute

""Around the world, universities are key battlegrounds in the fight against fascism. But as the contributors to this volume understand, we have to do more than aspire for a restoration of the previous, broken academic status quo. This expansive and insightful collection helps clarify the stakes of the current crisis and its antecedents while also exploring possible solutions and more life and learning affirming futures.""--Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective and author of The Age of Insecurity

""Knowledge Under Siege confronts the escalating attacks on universities--defunding, censorship, and the corporatization of learning--and shows why defending higher education is essential to democracy itself. Far from being businesses, universities are vital public institutions where truth is pursued, dissent is fostered, and hope is kept alive. This book is a call to protect the university as a space of critical inquiry, civic courage, justice, and imagination at a moment when its very future hangs in the balance.""--Henry Giroux, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest & The Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy

""Knowledge Under Siege tells the eye-opening story of the many ways universities in Canada and around the world are in serious trouble. From the impact of neo-liberalism to the authoritarian assault on expertise and knowledge, the contributors make a compelling case for what's gone wrong and issue an urgent call for collective action to reimagine and remake universities that serve the common good.""--David Robinson, Executive Director, Canadian Association of University Teachers

""This book will lift your spirits and remind you that the university remains a central place for debate and open dialogue critical for any democracy worth the name.""--Zeus Leonardo, author of Race Frameworks

""Totalitarian rule is on the rise, and education is not some random collateral damage--it's an early and fundamental target. Those of us resisting the siege must grasp the dimensions of the crisis we're facing--its roots and its reach, its power and also its vulnerabilities. Marc Spooner and James McNinch have assembled an esteemed group of scholars, activists, and organizers who can help us do just that. They not only illuminate the crisis, but they also help us plot a path forward. This is an essential text for this fierce and urgent moment.""--Bill Ayers, author of When Freedom is the Question Abolition is the Answer

""With piercing clarity and a chorus of urgent voices--students, scholars, resisters, and visionaries--Knowledge Under Siege charts the peril and promise of higher education in a world on edge. It demands we ask: What is the university for? Who does it serve? What truths will it dare to speak? And most critically--will we fight for it, or let it fall?""--Peter McLaren, Peter McLaren, Professor emeritus, UCLA 1992-2012, Chapman University (retired) 2013-2023, author of Life in Schools

"Lively and timely, this book is a reminder that universities are worthwhile places for learning, meaning-making and struggle, especially to confront fascism and settler colonialism."--Eve Tuck, James Weldon Johnson Professor of Indigenous Studies at Steinhardt and Gallatin, New York University

About the Author

Marc Spooner is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. His research interests include audit culture, academic freedom, the effects of neoliberalization and corporatization on higher education, social justice, activism, and participatory democracy.

James McNinch is professor emeritus and former dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. His research and publications have focused on teaching and learning in higher education, gender and sexual diversity, racism and white privilege, and the social construction of masculinity.