How do we understand academic freedom today? Does it still have relevance in a global

reconfiguring of higher education in the interests of the economy, rather than the public

good? And locally, is academic freedom no more than an inconvenient ideal, paid lip service

to South Africa’s Constitution as an individual right, but neglected in institutional practice?

This book argues that the core content of academic freedom—the principle of supporting and

extending open intellectual enquiry—is essential to realizing the full public value of higher

education. John Higgins emphasizes the central role that the humanities, and the particular forms of

argument and analysis they embody, bring to this task.

Each chapter embodies the particular force of a critical literacy in action, one which brings

into play the combined force of historical inquiry, theoretical analysis, and precise attention

to the textual dynamics of all statement so as to challenge and confront the received ideas of

the day. These provocative analyses are complemented by probing interviews with three key

figures from the Critical Humanities: Terry Eagleton, who discusses the deforming effects of

managerialism in British universities; Edward W. Said, who argues for increased recognition of

the democratizing force of the humanities; and Jakes Gerwel, who presents some of the most

recent challenges for the realization of a humanist politics in South Africa.