CFP for Special Workshop at the "Dignity, Diversity,
Democracy" Conference (Annual Congress of the International Association
for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy) Lucerne, Switzerland, July
7-13, 2019 (at the University of Lucerne)
Convenors: Andrew Majeske, Gilad Ben-Nun
Workshop
Description:
In the
United States the contentious midterm elections of 2018 will occur shortly. The
narratives dominating the public conversation in respect to immigration
(currently in the news is the migrant caravan of Honduran refugees, and the
move to restrict birth-right citizenship) and nationalism (“make American great
again”, and “America first”) by all appearances are controlled respectively by
the far right and the far left of the political spectrum. Certain it is that
these more extreme narratives garner the bulk of mainstream media attention,
and offer the least opportunity for identifying a common ground upon which
productive public discussion can work to counter the fear-mongering and
demonizing that constitute the core of these narratives. A similar dynamic has
been playing out in many if not most of the nations that constitute the
EU.
It is the
hope of the conveners that the papers that will be shared in this special
workshop will work towards addressing , from the interdisciplinary standpoint
of law, literature & culture, the problem of the missing middle, and to
identify ways in which a different narrative can be structured that can either
bridge the extremes of the political left and right, or if that is not
feasible, to work towards creating a new narrative (or resurrecting an older
one). This new or restored narrative must be one that creates a broad and
stable middle ground, a middle-ground that highlights the core values of
dignity, democracy & diversity, and the principles that support these
values—namely, that the only legitimate government is one based on the consent
of those governed, and its necessary analogue, that there is at the least a
fundamental initial political equality of all persons. Whether this new or
restored narrative will be of sufficient power and vitality to push the extreme
narratives back to their native ground, the margins, is uncertain; but it is
the position of the conveners that we have a duty to try.
The
conveners are therefore hopeful that given the myriad of perspectives and
approaches that characterize the interdiscipline of law, literature &
culture, that the workshop will be productive in identifying such new or
restored narratives with which we can begin to confront what is presenting
itself as the fundamental crisis of our times. We trust that the
urgency of establishing a trans-Atlantic (and hopefully even broader) dialogue
on this theme is evident to all.
The
special workshop will be held in English.
If you are interested in presenting a
paper in this workshop, please send a short abstract (max. 300 words) to the
workshop conveners by January 31, 2019. Decisions will be made by February 28,
2019. Full papers will be circulated among the workshop participants
approximately two weeks before the start of the conference.
Conveners:
Andrew Majeske (John Jay College of
Criminal Justice (CUNY), New York)
Bilad Ben-Nun (University of Leipzig)
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