Academic Freedom and the Transnational Production of Knowledge

Professor Dina Kiwan is a comparative sociologist of education at University of Birmingham, UK, educated at the universities of Oxford, Harvard and UCL. She was previously the Centre for Lebanese Studies Fellow at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, and Associate Professor in Sociology at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

'This is a powerful book by a distinguished scholar who has assembled a remarkable collection of compelling reflections on academic freedom and its relationship to the production of knowledge, and to (de-)legitimized and forbidden knowledge. Unlike Western-centric educational studies, this book uncovers many examples not only from US and UK but also from Lebanon and UAE of the violation of academic freedom that challenge us all to think through what it would mean for politics, culture and economy in academia.' Sari Hanafi, Professor of Sociology, American University of Beirut and President, International Sociological Association

• 1. Introduction; 2. Constructions of academic freedom: freedom vs inclusion?; 3. Constructions of knowledge; 4. Producing knowledge: the role of the university; 5. Challenging knowledge: internal and external restrictions; 6. 'Forbidden' knowledge; 7. 'Legitimate' knowledge: methodological debates and the political sociology of knowledge production; 8. Conclusion: a transnational theory of academic freedom and the production of inclusive knowledge; References; Index.