Higher Education, State Repression, and Neoliberal Reform in Nicaragua Reflections from a University under Fire

This innovative volume makes a key contribution to debates around the role of the university as a space of resistance by highlighting the liberatory practices undertaken to oppose dual pressures of state repression and neoliberal reform at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Nicaragua. Using a critical ethnographic approach to frame the experiences of faculty and students through vignettes, chapters present contextualized, analytical contributions from students, scholars, and university leaders to draw attention to the activism present within teaching, research, and administration while simultaneously calling attention to critical higher education and international solidarity as crucial means of maintaining academic freedom, university autonomy, oppositional knowledge production, and social outreach in higher education globally. This text will benefit researchers, students, and academics in the fields of higher education, educational policy and politics, and international and comparative education. Those interested in equality and human rights, Central America, and the themes of revolution and protest more broadly will also benefit from this volume.

Foreword by Florence E. Babb Introduction Part 1: The Repressive and Neoliberal Context of Critical Higher Education in Nicaragua 1. The Manifesto of the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) 2. The Impact of Neoliberal Reform and Repression on Higher Education in Nicaragua Part 2: Professors and Students under Fire 3. Professors and the Accompaniment of University Student Struggles in Nicaragua 4. An Ethnography of the Classroom and the Daily Effects of Repression 5. Rhizomatic Solidarity for (Re)flourishing: UCA Graduate Perspectives on Education, Social Change, and Persistence amid Repression Part 3: Solidarity and Implications beyond Nicaragua 6. Cyborg solidarity with Nicaragua and Digital/Analogue Entanglements 7. University Partnerships and Solidarity with Nicaragua 8. Lessons from Nicaragua for a Critical Higher Education Coda 9. A Brief History of Violence in Nicaragua

Wendi Bellanger is Provost and Academic Leader of the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), Nicaragua. Serena Cosgrove is Faculty Coordinator of Seattle University’s Central America Initiative and Associate Professor in International Studies at Seattle University, USA. Irina Carlota Silber is Professor of Anthropology at the City College of New York, USA.