Feminist and Gender Studies Scholars in Exile

A Critical Reflection on Neoliberal and Eurocentric Academia in Germany

Abstract

The year 2015 was a turning point in the history of migration to Europe due to the so-called migration crisis that emerged under the influence of wars, war like-conflicts, and anti-democratic authoritarian regimes in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. These historical phenomena led to unprecedented threats to human rights, including academic freedom and freedom of expression, which resulted in the fleeing of scholars to countries in the Global North and the West, with their liberal regimes. The forced migration besetting intellectuals also included representatives of feminist and gender studies, who were targeted by authoritarian regimes due to the latter’s symptomatic anti-gender policies and discourses. In the general context of forced intellectual migration from the Global South and the East to the Global North and the West, this paper focuses on scholars in the field of feminist and queer studies fleeing from Turkey to Germany after 2015. Special emphasis is placed on their experiences of both risk and inclusion at German universities following the scholarships awarded by academic-humanitarianism actors. The aim of the paper is to shed light on gendered and epistemic inequalities that are experienced by scholars in the wake of the neoliberal higher education system.