Rethinking Free Speech in the Age of Social Media and Campus Protests

Clashes over free expression haunt public debates from pro-Pales nian protests to a empts to regulate social media. Free speech defenders present it as a single, simple principle cas ga ng others for being inconsistent, self-interested and cowardly. This talk and the book it launches argue that we must rethink the concept, dis nguishing different principles and goals that underlie common assump ons. We need to understand the difference between legal rights and communica ve ideals, between academic freedom and free expression, the different legal terrains of the US and Canada, and the nature of our new spheres of discussion on social media.

Peter Ives is professor of poli cal science at the University of Winnipeg. He is the author of Gramsci’s Poli cs of Language and Language and Hegemony in Gramsci, and co-editor of Gramsci, Language and Transla on and Language Policy and Poli cal Theory. He has published in Rethinking Marxism, Poli cal Studies, Cri cal Review of Interna onal Social and Poli cal Philosophy and Language Policy. He researches and writes on the poli cs of “global English” and bridging the disciplines of language policy and poli cal theory. 

The talk and discussion will be followed by refreshments and a book signing RSVP: gndrchair@uvic.ca