Lecture Series Lecture: Academic Freedom and Public Responsibility
Press Release No. 125/2024
30 October 2024
Anthropologist Biao Xiang is the next speaker in the Ruperto Carola Lecture Series
Reconciling academic freedom and public responsibility in the university context is the topic of a lecture by anthropologist Dr Biao Xiang from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. His contribution is part of the Ruperto Carola Lecture Series which, in this winter semester, explores the theme “Freedom?! The University as a Space for Discourse”. The series organized by Heidelberg University takes up the role of universities and research in society and current political conflicts, examining them from different angles and transcultural perspectives. The lecture (in English) entitled “The Structure of Freedom and the Structure of Responsibility: Navigating the Relations between Science and Politics” is to take place on Monday 4 November 2024, in the Great Hall of the Old University, beginning at 6pm.
On the basis of his research on China and India, and with respect to current debates in Germany, Dr Xiang will discuss claims that academic freedom and public responsibility can be reconciled as long as they are distributed in differentiated ways. In his structural approach, he distinguishes between the autonomy of large-scale institutions such as universities and small-scale collectives such as research teams, faculties and student bodies. Biao Xiang is on the Board of Directors of the MPI for Social Anthropology in Halle. His research addresses issues of political economy that arise in connection with migration and mobility. Following his lecture, Dr Xiang will discuss the topic with his dialogue partner Prof. Dr Guido Sprenger from Heidelberg University’s Institute of Anthropology.
The Ruperto Carola Lecture Series is part of an approach to focal themes like RIGHT & WRONG. With this series, Heidelberg University seeks to take socially relevant research questions to a broad public twice a year in differing formats. In the present lecture series, researchers from various disciplinary perspectives are speaking on “Freedom?! The University as a Space for Discourse”. The series was planned with reference to “Science Year 2024 – Freedom” by sinologist Prof. Dr Barbara Mittler and media anthropologist Prof. Dr Christiane Brosius of the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies.
The lecture with Biao Xiang will be followed in the winter semester by five more lectures by academics from Heidelberg University, as well as visiting speakers from other research institutions at home and abroad. The events take place on Mondays in the Great Hall of the Old University, starting at 6pm. Subsequently recordings will be accessible on heiONLINE, the central portal of Heidelberg University with lectures, panels and events in digital formats.