Is freedom of speech threatened in academia, or are such charges simply a rhetorical move to hush up legitimate criticism?
Professor of cultural and religious diversity at OsloMet, Torkel Brekke, warns that cancel culture and no-platforming are a major problem in the US, and that despite major differences between the US and Norway, similar tendencies can be seen in Norway and the other Scandinavian countries.
One of the recent cases involves the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KhiO), where, according to Brekke, room for expression is limited. ‘The KhiO case … shows that it is entirely possible for the types of culture and processes we see in the United States to make their way to Norway.’ Professor of gender research in the social sciences at Bergen University, Randi Gressgård, is critical of these notions: ‘Cancel culture is a politically constructed myth’, she comments, adding that such terms divert the debate from what is actually being criticized. ‘The few available reputable studies indicate that freedom of speech has increased.’
