Populists’ struggle for epistemic hegemony and anti-gender attacks on higher education in authoritarian contexts: the case of Turkey

Focusing on the gendered modalities of the illiberal attacks on universities under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, this article explores the ways in which illiberal actors' anti-genderism and their quest for scientific authorization intersect in contemporary Turkey, leading to a paradigm shift towards illiberal science perspectives. It analyzes 3 modes of discursive-institutional interventions into higher education (HE) that display gendered modalities: 1. Reversal of gender-sensitive policy frameworks, 2. Alternative politics of knowledge cultivated through new epistemic institutions, 3. Suppression of students' LGBTI+ activism and visibility on university campuses. It argues that AKP's gendered attacks on HE operate both as a backlash drawing on repressive strategies that dismantle gender equality perspectives, as well as an alternative form of politics of knowledge with proactive strategies and new institutions replacing critical gender lenses. As a result, the article contributes to the scholarship on populism, politics of knowledge, and anti-gender politics with a focus on three points: 1. Anti-genderism as a key epistemic field in illiberal populist politics of knowledge, 2. Combination of repressive and oppressive strategies as an effective strategy of mainstreaming anti-gender knowledge in HE, 3. the opportunistic synergy between illiberal state actors and anti-gender academia, media, and civil society.