In the Netherlands the right is increasingly attacking the university as a site of ‘leftist indoctrination.’ The extreme-right-wing Forum voor Democratie (FvD) issues warnings that teachers impose ideology on their pupils and students. A larger societal debate started when the ‘scientific institute’ of the party issued ‘de nieuwe schoolstrijd: meldpunt indoctrinatie op scholen en universiteiten’ [the new school battle: reporting point indoctrination on schools and universities] aimed specifically at lef-wing teachers and lecturers. The debates centred about the legality of the initiative, about whether it is a modern thing to have such a pillory, and the success of extreme-right-wing narratives in mainstream politics. Little effort is made to discuss politics in the classroom as many scholars hide behind the idea which Haraway has identified as the god-trick or a universal objectivity (1988). Based on feminist, queer and postcolonial theory, how can we understand and deal with politics in the class room or lecture hall in times of anti-knowledge politics?
I will argue for a situated teaching praxis in which it is acknowledged that research is political and in which room for discussion and resistance is valued. In this way one can account for once own position and open up the possibility for students to reflect on their own political positions especially with regard to research. Firstly, I analyse the Dutch case with the critiques of the extreme rights versus feminist critiques of knowledge production and teaching by the likes of Haraway and Mohanty among others. Secondly I propose queer and feminist openings in curricular design and classroom practices relating to issues of response-ability and limits of a situated politics in the classroom.
