William I. Robinson
Encyclopedia
William I. Robinson is an American professor of sociology
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
. His work focuses on political economy
, globalization
, Latin America
and historical materialism
. He is a member of the International Parliamentary and Civil Society Mission to Investigate the Political Transition in Iraq.
.
in his 2009 "Sociology of Globalization" course has been the object of worldwide controversy. Two of his students brought complaints concerning an e-mail he forwarded for discussion — titled "parallel images of Nazis and Israelis" — sent to the students that made a visual image comparison of the Gaza War to the Warsaw Ghetto
. The Anti-Defamation League
criticized Robinson, considering it a case of academic misconduct, while California Scholars for Academic Freedom consider it a case of academic freedom
and the charges without merit.
The Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UCSB has come to Robinson's defence calling the allegations "flagrant and baseless affronts to academic freedom" which "have been brought in order to silence any criticism of Israeli policies and practices." Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
, a pro-Israel group of academics, said that the incident "raises serious questions about his judgment and the value of his teaching, and that, "Concern for academic freedom does not justify or erase what is clearly and profoundly flawed pedagogy."
University official initiated an investigation of Robinson to probe the allegations of the two students that Robinson's email was inappropriate and in violation of the faculty code of ethics. However, the charges were dismissed in mid-May 2009 (although the university did not announce the dismissal of charges until late June 2009).
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. His work focuses on political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
. He is a member of the International Parliamentary and Civil Society Mission to Investigate the Political Transition in Iraq.
Early life
In the early 1980s Robinson worked as a journalist in war-torn Nicaragua. He was a member of Union of Nicaraguan Journalists (past member and officer 1984-1990).Academic life
He then went on to study for his BA in Journalism with the Friends World College in Nairobi (Kenya), Ibadan (Nigeria), and Costa Rica. Following this he received both his MA in Latin American Studies and his PhD in Sociology at the University of New MexicoUniversity of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
.
Theoretical work
- Global Capitalism
- Transnational Capitalist Class
- Transnational Corporations
- Transnational State
- Polyarchy
Theoretical debates
Robinson has been involved with numerous intense theoretical debates with other historical materialist scholars.Controversy
His teaching and a forwarded e-mailE-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
in his 2009 "Sociology of Globalization" course has been the object of worldwide controversy. Two of his students brought complaints concerning an e-mail he forwarded for discussion — titled "parallel images of Nazis and Israelis" — sent to the students that made a visual image comparison of the Gaza War to the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
. The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
criticized Robinson, considering it a case of academic misconduct, while California Scholars for Academic Freedom consider it a case of academic freedom
Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
and the charges without merit.
The Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UCSB has come to Robinson's defence calling the allegations "flagrant and baseless affronts to academic freedom" which "have been brought in order to silence any criticism of Israeli policies and practices." Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is an independent non-profit international community network of academic scholars, which according to its founder, conducts "pro-Israel advocacy"...
, a pro-Israel group of academics, said that the incident "raises serious questions about his judgment and the value of his teaching, and that, "Concern for academic freedom does not justify or erase what is clearly and profoundly flawed pedagogy."
University official initiated an investigation of Robinson to probe the allegations of the two students that Robinson's email was inappropriate and in violation of the faculty code of ethics. However, the charges were dismissed in mid-May 2009 (although the university did not announce the dismissal of charges until late June 2009).
External links
- William I. Robinson at the University of California, Santa Barbara
- William I. Robinson at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
- Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UCSB
- Jewish Students Shocked by UCSB Professor's Demonizing Email, YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video of former student reading from Robinson's e-mail.