30206
Advanced seminar
Contesting Equality: The Backlash Against Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion in Academia
Kathrin Zippel
Comments
This seminar examines the rising backlash against gender and diversity studies, as well as DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies in higher education, focusing on both European contexts and the United States. While gender and diversity programs had gained institutional recognition, their implementation often faces significant political, cultural, and organizational resistance. We will explore how these fields are contested sites within universities—symbolically embraced yet structurally marginalized. Case studies will analyze attacks on academic freedom, defunding efforts, and ideological campaigns portraying DEI as threats to meritocracy or national identity. Particular attention will be paid to the paradoxes of institutionalization: how formal inclusion may coexist with epistemic devaluation and precarious labor conditions for scholars in these fields. Through interdisciplinary readings and critical discussion, students will assess how broader socio-political dynamics—such as anti-feminism, populism, and anti-intellectualism—shape the current terrain of equality struggles in academia. close
16 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Mon, 2025-10-13 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-10-20 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-10-27 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-11-03 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-11-10 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-11-17 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-11-24 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-12-01 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-12-08 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2025-12-15 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-01-05 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-01-12 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-01-19 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-01-26 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-02-02 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2026-02-09 16:00 - 18:00