Academic freedom as experience, relation and capability: A view from Hong Kong

Jackson offers a personal account of how academic freedom relates not only to rights to free speech, but also to one's experiences, relations, and capabilities. Drawing on her experiences of working in various higher education settings, Jackson contrasts how academic freedom is constructed within the Western liberal philosophy, focusing particularly on the work of Kant; relational perspectives, as found in existentialism and in sociological views of knowledge production, and the capabilities approach. She examines the insights and implications of each of these views in relation to research on academic freedom in China and the United States, as well as in connection to her own experience, in the United States (her home country) and Hong Kong. The chapter argues that academic freedom relates to experience, relation, and capability in a way that is non-generalisable, and is more precarious and complex than often assumed. Copyright © 2022 The Editors and Contributors Severally.