Our Sociology Master’s student Afife Eren successfully defended her thesis titled “Intellectuals, Academia and Silence: The Case of Palestine After October 7th, 2023” on May 18, 2026.
Prepared under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Merve Reyhan Ceylan, the thesis examines the phenomenon of academic silence regarding the Palestinian issue after October 7, 2023. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, doxa, and symbolic capital, the study argues that academic silence is not merely an individual choice or a form of tacit approval, but rather a structural practice produced within unequal power relations, institutional boundaries, and unevenly distributed risks in the academic field.
Designed as a qualitative phenomenological study, the research is based on ten semi-structured interviews conducted with academics from different disciplines and geographical contexts. The data were analyzed using MAXQDA 26.
The findings indicate that academic silence is shaped by institutional governance styles, career insecurity, and concerns over reputational loss. For academics who are at the early stages of their careers or who lack institutional protection, silence emerges as a survival strategy rather than a sign of moral indifference.
The thesis also highlights how the Palestinian issue is exceptionalized within the academic field as a topic considered “too political” and “too sensitive.” This exceptional position is reproduced through the criminalization of resistance, the avoidance of certain terminologies, and double standards in academic responses.
The study further shows that the post-October 7 period created a significant rupture that challenged the claim of academic neutrality. While this process made moral shock, global mobilization, and the repoliticization of Palestine more visible, it also intensified mechanisms of surveillance, discipline, and repression.
The research demonstrates that the question of who can speak and who is silenced is closely connected to unequally distributed resources such as tenure, institutional affiliation, citizenship status, and geopolitical position. Within this framework, the thesis argues that academic silence is not merely the absence of speech, but a structural consequence produced within the operational logic of the academic field.
We congratulate our student Afife Eren on her valuable contribution to discussions on academic freedom and intellectual responsibility through the case of Palestine and wish her continued success in her academic endeavours.
