ABSTRACT. This special topic in Knowledge Cultures aimed to engage critically with the concept of ‘slow academia’ to explore possibilities for thinking the university differently beyond the binary of fastness and slowness. ‘Slow academia’ has usually been defined negatively as resistance to the acceleration and relentlessness of academic life in the neoliberal university. And, although the concept has sometimes been criticised as over-simple, nostalgic or elitist, it is a persuasive concept. But other spatiotemporal concepts for thinking – and ‘doing’ – the university differently are possible, for example, the concepts of the transversal institution (Guattari), the undercommons (Harney & Moten), the ecology of practices (Stengers) or the marae (the Māori meeting place). In this issue, authors were invited to think with the concept of ‘slow academia’ to stretch it in new directions that make sense of their educational practices.

Keywords: slow academia; neoliberal university; slowness; accelerationism

How to cite: Sturm, S. (2024). The university as a place of possibilities: An introduction to a special topic on thinking with the concept of ‘slow academia.’ Knowledge Cultures, 12(3), 108-115. doi: 10.22381/kc12320246.