The annual TB Davie Memorial Lecture on academic freedom was established by University of Cape Town to commemorate the work of Thomas Benjamin Davie, vice-chancellor of the university from 1948 to 1955 and a defender of the principles of academic freedom.
Past speakers YearSpeakerSubject1959A van de Sandt CentlivresThomas Benjamin Davie1960Cornelis de KiewietAcademic freedom1961Z. K. MatthewsAfrican awakening and the universities1962Harry OppenheimerThe conditions for progress in Africa1963Sir Robert TredgoldIdeas, ideologies & idolatries1964Robert H. ThoulessRationality & prejudice1965Sir Robert BirleyThe shaking off of burdens1966A van Selms NisibisThe oldest university1968Erik EriksonInsight and freedom1969Barbara Ward, Lady JacksonA new history1971W A Visser T’HooftA responsible university in a responsible society1972Alpheus H ZuluThe dilemma of a black South African1972John, Lord Redcliffe MaudNational progress and the university1973René DumontUniversity autonomy and rural development in Africa1974R ColesChildren and political authority1975Juliet MitchellWomen and equality1976A H HalseyAcademic freedom & the idea of a university1977Lord GoodmanThe university's special role1978Geoff BudlenderLooking forward1979Martin LegassickAcademic Struggle and The Worker's Struggle (published not delivered)1980Ivan IllichShadow work, industrial division of toil (published not delivered)1981Terrence RangerToward a radical practice of academic freedom: the experience1982Howard ZinnAcademic freedom: collaboration & resistance1982Julius TominAcademic freedom in a repressive society1983Helen JosephThe doors of learning & culture shall be open1984Raymond SuttnerThe freedom charter - the people's charter in the 1980s1986Albert NolanAcademic freedom: a service to the people1986Hoosen CoovadiaFrom ivory tower to a people's university1990E R WolfFreedom and freedoms: An anthropological perspective1990Walter SisuluThe road to liberation1991E W SaidIdentity, authority & freedom: the potentate & the traveller1992G C SpivakThinking academic freedom in gendered post-coloniality1993C H LongThe gift of speech and the travail of language1994E FonerThe story of American freedom1996O PattersonThe paradoxes of freedom in America1997Noam ChomskyMarket democracy in a neoliberal order: Doctrines and reality1999Alan RyanAcademic freedom: Human right or professorial privilege?2001?Wole SoyinkaArms and the arts: a continent's unequal dialogue2002Kader AsmalBreaking with the past, planning for the future2003Frederik van Zyl SlabbertIs academic freedom still an issue in the new South Africa?2004Jonathan D. JansenAccounting for Autonomy: How Higher Education lost its Innocence2006Alan Charles KorsThe Essential Relationship of Academic Freedom to Human Liberty2007Achille MbembeRace and Freedom in Black Thought2009Nithaya ChettyUniversities in a Time of Change2010Robin BriggsThe Knowledge Economy and Academic Freedom2011Nadine StrossenSome Reflections on the British and French Cases: Post-9/11 Threats to Academic Freedom2012Ferial HaffajeeCreeping Censorship and the Spearing of Freedom2013Jonathan GloverUniversities, the Market and Academic Freedom2014Max du PreezThe mediocrity of intellectual discourse: misrepresenting South Africa in the academy and beyond2015Kenan MalikFree Speech in an Age of Identity Politics2017Mahmood MamdaniDecolonising the postcolonial university2018Pumla Dineo GqolaBetween Academic Inheritance and the Urgency of Definitions2019Steven SalaitaThe inhumanity of academic freedom2020Ravi KanburEconomic inequality begets academic inequality2021Yunus BallimOurs is to educate, not to captivate2022Fran BaumCorporatising universities threatens academic freedom2023Sakhela BuhlunguUniversity of Fort Hare – a tale of academic freedom and institutional autonomy2024Dire TladiThe Narrative as the Enemy of Freedom of Thought2025Loretta Ross‘Call in, not out’: Activist on justice with compassion
References
External links TB Davie Memorial Lectures