This online conversation, facilitated by HNY staff, is on the topic of democracy; what does it take to have a free and open society? We’ll discuss principles such as trust, free expression, as well as basic civics education as potential components of a healthy democracy — join us to talk through these and other questions! Prior to the conversation, we will email each participant with a brief reading and/or a video clip that will serve as the anchor for our conversation. Be on the lookout!
What Does Democracy Demand: Another Reconstruction
Featuring David Bromwich, Jedediah Purdy, Leah Wright Rigueur, and Brandon M. Terry. A free, online town hall series hosted by Humanities New York and a part of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s national initiative, “Why It Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation.” The 2020 election and its continuing aftermath have occurred in a pivotal moment for American democracy. Not only is the nation burdened with a health crisis and the potential for continued economic devastation, but our civic atmosphere is polarized and acrimonious. Attending to one’s civic duty and casting a ballot is a necessary step in preserving democracy, but voting […]
What Does Democracy Demand: First Principles
Featuring David Bromwich, Jedediah Purdy, Leah Wright Rigueur, and Brandon M. Terry. A free, online town hall series hosted by Humanities New York and a part of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s national initiative, “Why It Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation.” The 2020 election and its continuing aftermath have occurred in a pivotal moment for American democracy. Not only is the nation burdened with a health crisis and the potential for continued economic devastation, but our civic atmosphere is polarized and acrimonious. Attending to one’s civic duty and casting a ballot is a necessary step in preserving democracy, but voting […]
Reading List: What Does Democracy Demand?
Since the 2020 election we’ve held “First Principles” and “Another Reconstruction” a free, two-part online town hall series featuring David Bromwich, Jedediah Purdy, Leah Wright Rigueur, and Brandon M. Terry. At the first town hall, our guest speakers summarized some of the components they see as necessary for a free and open democracy — such as trust, free expression, as well as basic civics education — and then evaluated the contemporary threats to those principles. Join us on January 20th for a Community Conversation in which all the participants can continue the discussion. Hosted over Zoom, we invite you to reflect […]
Community & Protest: Reading List
Since the beginning of 2020, we have seen a social turmoil that has not been broadly expressed in at least a generation, marked by protests sparked by the all-too-common spectacle of a black man’s unjust death. George Floyd’s killing is a recent — but by no means even the latest — iteration of America’s gruesome heritage of racist violence. This heritage scaffolds the length of our history, its shadow dimming us and our institutions. As Ibram X. Kendi teaches us, indeed as he said at last year’s Buffalo Humanities Festival (video below), we at institutions all have influence on the […]
Democracy & Trust Today
HNY is continuing its Online Community Conversations series with a discussion on “Democracy and Trust Today.” Issues of democratic trust – and distrust – are not unique to today, of course, but the pervasive social isolation; differing dispositions toward public health and the economic reboot; and varying infection and mortality rates are adding another set of complications to our already distrustful and polarized society. To complement these online conversations, we have curated a brief selection of texts that examine the interdependencies and tensions between trust and democracy (readings are not required to participate). Not all of these directly confront “trust […]
