Academic (Un)freedom in Iran after 1979: (Transnational) State Suppression of Academia and Risks for (Diasporic) Academics

Abstract:

This article explores the interventions by the Iranian regime in knowledge production, academic freedom, and the lives of academics since 1979, focusing on academics in Iranian universities and in the Iranian diaspora. The article combines an analysis of political and policy shifts with personal reflections from both my academic journey in Iran and my experience as a diasporic academic in Europe. I investigate the suppression of academic freedom in Iran, starting with the “Cultural Revolution” that followed the 1979 Iranian Revolution and then moving on to subsequent state interventions in universities. The article examines the various methods used to restrict academic freedom, including both implicit and explicit surveillance, censorship, structural regulation of academic content and spaces, hiring practices, and the enforcement of self-regulation and self-censorship, among other tactics. The article concludes by identifying some areas where the state has struggled to enforce or sustain its own policies, while also highlighting the resilience displayed by the Iranian academic community in spite of rampant suppression and restrictions on academic freedom.

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