CPH Maynard Adams Symposium ft. Cristina Lafont

Carolina Public Humanities is pleased to announce that the Annual Maynard Adams Symposium for the Humanities will take place this year on April 19-20. The keynote speaker will be the philosopher Cristina Lafont of Northwestern University, who is a leading analyst of contemporary threats to democracy and an advocate for the development of more participatory democratic institutions. Her work builds on the arguments of the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, whose theories about the importance of a robust “public sphere” have widely influenced contemporary historians, philosophers, and political thinkers.

The agenda is attached, but you can find more information about Professor Lafont and the Adams Symposium at the CPH website. The theme of this year’s Symposium is “Building Democracies in Times of Populism and Polarization,” and Professor Lafont’s keynote presentation is entitled “Rescuing Democracy from Populism and Technocracy.” 

This in-person event will take place on the UNC campus in the Kenan Conference Center at the Kenan Flagler Business School on April 19 (the event begins at 5:30 pm) and on April 20 (beginning at 9:15 am). Both sessions will also be available through livestreaming, though registration is required for the zoom access. The first link below connects to the registration for the keynote session on April 19; and the second connects to the  registration for the panel discussions on April 20. 

https://unc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eMho1YbIR1KbZA0NtTRJQg#/registration

https://unc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_76qJI_ErQJGkMuanx8Q8cg#/registration

I hope you can join us for this free, public discussion of modern democracies in a time of intense political polarization.