Current demands for the social relevance of research in the humanities call for a re-examination of the relation between autonomous, knowledge-driven research and forms of administrative agenda setting. "'Aktivismus von oben' in der Literaturwissenschaft", the latest article by Dîlan Canan Çakir (Research Area 5: Building Digital Communities), examines this tension by using debates in literary studies as an example. To address the question of how political objectives, or what is sometimes described as 'activism from above', shape and reshape academic practice, Çakir proposes a heuristic framework that helps to distinguish between disciplinary self-mobilisation, gatekeeping, agenda setting in research policy and intervention through sanctions. A product of Çakir’s project Activism and Literature at EXC 2020, the paper offers a differentiated view on the relations between activism, governance and academic research.

Dîlan Canan Çakir. "'Aktivismus von oben' in der Literaturwissenschaft". Journal of Literary Theory 20, no. 1 (2026) (Special Issue: Literary Studies and/as Political Activism): 29–47. https://doi.org/10.1515/jlt-2026-2012 (Open Access)