This innovative volume makes a key contribution to debates around the role of the university as a space of resistance by highlighting the liberatory practices undertaken to oppose dual pressures of state repression and neoliberal reform at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Nicaragua.
Using a critical ethnographic approach to frame the experiences of faculty and students through vignettes, chapters present contextualized, analytical contributions from students, scholars, and university leaders to draw attention to the activism present within teaching, research, and administration while simultaneously calling attention to critical higher education and international solidarity as crucial means of maintaining academic freedom, university autonomy, oppositional knowledge production, and social outreach in higher education globally.
This text will benefit researchers, students, and academics in the fields of higher education, educational policy and politics, and international and comparative education. Those interested in equality and human rights, Central America, and the themes of revolution and protest more broadly will also benefit from this volume.
Author(s): Wendi Bellanger, Serena Cosgrove, Irina Carlota Silber
Series: Routledge Research in Higher Education
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 219
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Frontispiece
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Florence E. Babb
About the Editors and Contributors
A Timeline for University Autonomy in Nicaragua by Hallie S. Evans
Introduction
Welcome
Why Nicaragua?
Key themes and keywords
Neoliberalism and how these policies affect higher education
Central America, violence, and the postwar era
Engaged social science research and ethnography
Methods
Book overview
Call to action
Notes
Bibliography
Part 1: The Repressive and Neoliberal Context of Critical Higher Education in Nicaragua
Chapter 1: The Manifesto of the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua
Introduction
How did I learn to lead a university?
What are the antecedents of April 2018?
What happened in April 2018?
What is happening today?
How has the repression affected the UCA?
What can be done?
Notes
References
Chapter 2: The Impact of Neoliberal Reform and Repression on Higher Education in Nicaragua
Introduction
The Struggle for University Autonomy in Nicaragua and the Devastating Effects of the Ortega-Murillo Government
The Corporatization of Higher Education, Audit Culture, and the Weakening of University Autonomy
Evaluation and Accreditation in Nicaragua
Conclusion: The Asphyxiation of University Autonomy
Notes
References
Part 2: Professors and Students under Fire
Chapter 3: Professors and the Accompaniment of University Student Struggles in Nicaragua
Introduction
Holistic accompaniment and university autonomy
A lost opportunity for university autonomy
Holistic accompaniment vs. political indoctrination
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 4: An Ethnography of the Classroom and the Daily Effects of Repression
The 2018 and 2019 context in Nicaragua: state repression and university resistance
Challenges and responses in the classroom
The 2018 crisis opened space for new forms of teaching in Nicaragua
Conclusions
Notes
References
Chapter 5: Rhizomatic solidarity for (re)flourishing: UCA Graduate Perspectives on Education, Social Change, and Persistence Amid Repression
Introduction: we are roots that have been uprooted but not burned
Three years after the April 2018 uprising
Free nation and life!
Achievements and challenges for the UCA
Teaching: “seeing the world differently” and “finding my vocation”
Proyección Social: “from saying to doing” and “being part of the change”
Research: a “decentralized” vision that reveals “many Nicaraguas”
From islands to rhizomes
Conclusion: “You will flourish, Nicaragua!”
Notes
References
Part 3: Solidarity and Implications beyond Nicaragua
Chapter 6: Cyborg solidarity with Nicaragua and digital/analogue entanglements
Introduction: the problems that confront us all
One year before: women defend their territory in Nicaragua
The 2018 Nicaraguan uprising: activism in cyberspace
The crisis continues in Nicaragua: the horror in your hand
Conclusion: Cyborg solidarity in an entangled yet unequal world
Notes
References
Chapter 7: University partnerships and solidarity 3.0 with Nicaragua
Introduction
Background
Solidarity 1.0 and 2.0
Solidarity 1.0
Solidarity 2.0
Achievements and limitations
What is solidarity and what can we learn from the past?
Solidarity 3.0
Interuniversity solidarity
Final thoughts
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Lessons from Nicaragua for a Critical Higher Education
Introduction
Mobilizing a University Manifesto
Do we only need manifestos in times of crisis?
Accompaniment within and outside classroom walls
Notes
References
Part 4: Coda
Chapter 9: A Brief History of Violence in Nicaragua
Introduction
Colonial Period
Independence
State Building and U.S. Intervention from Walker to Sandino
Somoza Paramilitary Rule and Student Protests
Sandinismo from Insurrection to State Building
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
