Precarious solidarities: ‘poisonous knowledge’ and the Academics for Peace in times of authoritarianism

Abstract

Based on the case of Academics for Peace (BAK) in Turkey, this article reveals the conditions and trajectories that constitute precariousness and solidarity in the academic context of Turkey and the United Kingdom. Reflecting on a self‐ethnographic narrative, the main focus of the article revolves around the question of how to live an academic life when what we do and what we produce is perceived by both the public and the state as acts of potential threat to the integrity of nations and the well‐being of societies. What types of solidarity and forms of vulnerability and resilience emerge from these situations? How might the production of knowledge be transformed into a means and a place of solidarity? In the context of these questions, the article continues the search for possibilities that could emerge from precarious conditions and lead to another ethics or policy of coexistence in/outside the academic world.