The Post-Soviet Scholar: From the Spaces of Inaction Towards Public Thinking and Multiple Agoras

The current situation in post-Soviet higher education is not particularly favorable for scholars. The notion of a “scholar,” as understood in this chapter, implies the pursuit of knowledge driven by an inner calling and a concern for the common good, truth-telling, and attempts to contribute to the betterment of society. The chapter focuses particularly on Georgian higher education, which is caught between two equally strong tendencies—neoliberalization and the rising influence of Russia’s hard and soft power, which strongly undermines or makes it almost impossible for critical discourse to thrive. It is argued that the notion of “agora” developed by Georgian philosopher Merab Mamardashvili as well as his style of philosophizing are still relevant and important today. “Agora” was thought of by Mamardashvili as a space—specific as well as abstract—which creates the conditions for public thinking and action. Linking Mamardashvili’s ideas to those of Bourdieu, Masschelein and Simons, the author argues that the scholarly community needs to be organized on anarchistic principles that will facilitate the creation of multiple agoras and autonomous collective intellectual.