A Letter from Roger Berkowitz

07-18-2024

I am often asked why Hannah Arendt is so meaningful and important for our times. There are multiple reasons her thinking resonates so deeply across the political spectrum. She lived through a crisis in politics—a period of hell—that feels increasingly like our own. Remarkably, Arendt found a path to resistance not through anger or violence, but through love of the world which she called understanding. It is the effort to face up to and resist the horrors of the world, Arendt argued, that allows a path to changing the course of the world. 

In an historical era where people are searching for meaning amidst metaphysical loneliness and ennui, Arendt insists that what it means to be human is to act and speak with others in ways that build meaningful relationships and a meaningful world. At a time of rising authoritarianism replete with totalitarian dangers, Arendt is the greatest thinker of authoritarianism and totalitarianism and offers bracing clarity about the real impulses for both.

Arendt is perhaps the most cogent analyst of the human urge to choose coherent fantasies over uncomfortable truths, thus offering a guide through the labyrinth of political lies that alienate us from our common world. Above all, Arendt reminds us that we are free to change the narrative and that as bad as the world seems, the human capacity to begin anew means that we can act to change our world. It is her unique mix of unflinching realism and unfailing hope that makes Arendt so wildly important to read and think with, in the midst of our political crises. 

The last year saw a surge of interest in the Arendt Center’s public programs. The Virtual Reading Group (VRG) read The Origins of Totalitarianism and Eichmann in Jerusalem, which also became the initial discussion points for our new podcast, Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz. In the coming year, we will read her amazing book of essay Between Past and Future and als0 her work On Civil Disobedience. 

Your membership is vital to sustaining our efforts! It also comes with incredible benefits, including two free entrances to our October 17-18, 2024, conference, Tribalism & Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Imagine a Pluralist Politics?

Hannah Arendt was suspicious of cosmopolitanism, world government, and the loss of the common sense connections that are part of living with and amidst one's tribe. Wary of assimilation and universalism, Arendt understood the need for a tribe, whether that tribe be her “tribe” of good friends or living amongst people with whom one shares cultural and social prejudices. At the same time, Arendt was also deeply suspicious of tribalism in politics. Politics always involves a plurality of peoples. Thus tribal nationalism—what she called the pseudo-mystical consciousness—is anti-political and leads to political programs aimed at ethnic homogeneity. 

The rise of tribalist and populist political movements today is in part a response to the failure of cosmopolitan rule by elites around the world. As understandable as tribalism may be, the challenge today is to think of new political possibilities that allow for the meaningful commitments of tribal identities while also respecting the fact of human plurality.  

The Hannah Arendt Center Conference on Tribalism & Cosmopolitanism responds to the undeniable fact that tribalism is real, appealing, and dangerous. Above all, we ask, how can make a space for tribal loyalty and tribal meaning while at the same time maintain our commitment to pluralist politics? 

We depend on you, our members and supporters, to keep alive Hannah Arendt’s spirit of bold and provocative public thinking about our world. 

Membership helps make it possible for the Hannah Arendt Center to create a thriving community for bold and risky humanities thinking about our political world. Your support helps fund Student Fellows at the Arendt Center, who create and organize a series of programs and initiatives for the center’s Courage To Be and Autonomies programs. This past spring semester, students coordinated a number of lectures, organized events, and hosted many notable guests to Bard College including illustrator and author Nora Krug, Executive Director at Waterfall Unity Alliance and teacher Kawenniiosta Jock, artist JJJJJerome Ellis, the mayor of Hudson Kamal Johnson, and founder of Green Amendments For The Generations Maya van Rossum.

As we transition to a new academic year, the Arendt Center is thriving and growing. I am delighted to announce that Hillary Harvey will be expanding her role into Communications for the Center, and Phil Lindsay will move into a new role as the Democracy Innovation Hub Program Manager. We are also thrilled to welcome back Thomas Chatterton Williams, Senior Fellow, and Max Botstein, Fritz Stern Postdoctoral Fellow.

We welcome Jess Feldman as the incoming Klemens von Klemperer Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jess Feldman received a Ph.D. in political theory from Brown University. Their research delves into 20th-century political thought, contemporary democratic theory, and African American political thought, with their work published in Political Theory. We're excited to have Jess's expertise and insight at the Hannah Arendt Center!

Nicholas Dunn concludes his fellowship at the Klemens von Klemperer Postdoctoral Fellow. Nick inaugurated the De Gruyter-Arendt Center Lecture in Political Thinking, an annual lecture series delivered by a prominent Arendt scholar, which aims to promote and foster the legacy of Arendt’s thought. We wish Nick Dunn all the best in his future endeavors and we are grateful for all of his quality contributions to the vibrancy and culture of the Center!

As part of our exclusive membership perks, you’ll be invited to a series of incredible special events that promise to be filled with opportunities to engage and connect with our community. Stay tuned for more events in the fall, winter, and spring!
 
Your generous support to the Hannah Arendt Center is vital in sustaining our efforts to offer lectures, workshops, fellowships, programming, publications, and community engagement worldwide. We truly cannot do it without your help.

Join us in making a meaningful impact, and please consider renewing or becoming a member today!

Your membership will foster a thriving global community committed to intellectual exploration and understanding. Help us reach our goal of 200 members in 10 days.

Sincerely,
Roger Berkowitz
Founder and Academic Director
The Hannah Arendt Center