OSUN, Hannah Arendt Center, and Center for Civic Engagement present:
Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Imagine a Pluralist Politics?
Thursday, October 17, 2024 – Friday, October 18, 2024
Olin Hall
Schedule
This is schedule is subject to change.
Thursday, October 17th10:00 am
Introduction
Deirdre d’Albertis
10:10 am
Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism
Roger Berkowitz
10:30 am
Tribalism and the Human Condition
Sebastian Junger
Discussant: Roger Berkowitz
12:00 pm
Can We Be Cosmopolitan Tribalists?
Shai Lavi and Khaled Furani
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch
1:30-2:30 pm
[OPTIONAL] Breakout Sessions:
Post Lecture Discussion and Reflection
Sebastian Junger
Moderator: Jana Mader
Olin Hall: Auditorium
Navigating Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: A Dialogue Group Discussion
Virtual Breakout Session [Online Only]
Susan Oberman
Click to join the ZOOM; Meeting ID: 813 1776 2352
Required readings: Public Dialogue and Debate and Dialogue
Sebastian Junger
Moderator: Jana Mader
Olin Hall: Auditorium
Navigating Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: A Dialogue Group Discussion
Virtual Breakout Session [Online Only]
Susan Oberman
Click to join the ZOOM; Meeting ID: 813 1776 2352
Required readings: Public Dialogue and Debate and Dialogue
2:45 pm
Are We a Tribe?
Thomas Chatterton Williams and Ayishat Akanbi
Moderator: Roger Berkowitz
3:45 pm
On the Tribe of Boys
Niobe Way
Moderator: Seth Halvorson
4:45 pm: Break
5:00 pm
Hannah Arendt’s Tribal Cosmopolitanism
Lyndsey Stonebridge
Discussant: Jana Schmidt
5:45 pm
Wine & Cheese Reception
Olin Hall Atrium
Friday, October 18th
9:30 am
Introduction
Leon Botstein
9:50 am
Tribalism and Modern Politics: Lessons from Ireland
Fintan O’Toole
Discussant: Joseph O’Neill
11:00 am
Another Cosmopolitanism
Seyla Benhabib
Discussant: Thomas Bartscherer
12:00 pm
Bloods, Crips, and Overcoming Tribalism in Los Angeles
Panel Discussion: Mandar Apte, Phillip “Rock” Lester, and Gilbert Johnson
Moderator: Niobe Way
1:00pm - 2:45pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 2:15pm
[OPTIONAL] Breakout Sessions:
Peacebuilding Workshop (live stream available)
Mandar Apte
Olin Hall Auditorium
Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism in Israel and Palestine
Shai Lavi and Khaled Furani
Olin Hall: Room 202
Mandar Apte
Olin Hall Auditorium
Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism in Israel and Palestine
Shai Lavi and Khaled Furani
Olin Hall: Room 202
2:15 pm
[OPTIONAL] Hannah Arendt Walking Tour
Hannah Arendt’s grave and personal library exhibit
Jana Mader and Lyndsey Stonebridge
Meet in the Olin Atrium at the Registration Table
2:45 pm
The Equivocations of Tribalism
Uday Mehta
Discussant: Roger Berkowitz
3:45 pm
Technology, Pluralism, and Cosmopolitanism Amidst the Return of Tribal
Zoe Hitzig and Ann Lauterbach
Discussant: Allison Stanger
5:00 pm
Wine & Cheese Reception
Olin Hall Atrium
WEBCAST
Online Registration is closed. Onsite registration will be open both days of the conference. However, please note it is too late to order lunch tickets.
The webcast does not require registration. Simply visit our YouTube Channel to view the conference live. The webcast is being recorded and we will post the videos after the conference.
WEBCAST
Speakers
The full conference will be available via Live Webcast. ALL registrants will also receive the link to the live webcast.Ayishat Akanbi
It’s widely accepted that everything is political, but it's Ayishat view that much of the personal becoming politicised is helping to fuel tensions.
Through her talks, interviews, and online posts, Ayishat challenges popular ideas by championing understanding, curiosity, and independent thought. Her belief that self-knowledge and honest reflection can resolve divisions has led her to speak at Google Headquarters, The Sydney Opera House, Tate Modern & The Victoria & Albert Museum.
Mandar Apte
Mandar currently manages Cities4Peace a nonprofit peacebuilding consultancy of the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) that promotes peace in cities and communities across the world worldwide. His pioneering efforts in collaboration with Los Angeles PD to reduce gang violence and with UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus to enable harmonious coexistence between Turkish and Greek Cypriots are noteworthy.
Based on the impact made, Mandar has recently been appointed by the UN Peacebuilding Office as an advisor to the special UN project on "Private Sector Investments for Youth-Led Peacebuilding". As part of this mandate, Mandar is engaging the private sector and educational institutions through his thought leadership.
Prior to this, Mandar has Produced & Directed From India With Love - a documentary film that promotes the message of nonviolence in the world. Mandar has Mandar has a BS (Chem Engg) from Univ of Mumbai (India) and an MS (Petroleum Engineering) from Univ of Tulsa (USA).
For more about his work; visit his website.
Prior to this, Mandar has Produced & Directed From India With Love - a documentary film that promotes the message of nonviolence in the world. The film is available on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
Mandar has a BS (Chem Engg) from Univ of Mumbai (India) and an MS (Petroleum Engineering) from Univ of Tulsa (USA).
For more about his work; visit his website.
Thomas Bartscherer
Seyla Benhabib
She was the President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2006-07 and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1995, and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy since 2018. She has previously taught at the New School for Social Research and Harvard Universities, where she was Professor of Government from 1993-2000 and Chair of Harvard’s Program on Social Studies from 1996-2000.
Professor Benhabib is the recipient of the Ernst Bloch prize for 2009, the Leopold Lucas Prize from the Theological Faculty of the University of Tubingen (2012), and the Meister Eckhart Prize (2014; one of Germany’s most prestigious philosophical prizes). A Guggenheim Fellowship recipient (2011-12), she has been research affiliate and senior scholar in many institutions in the US and in Europe including Berlin’s Wissenschaftskolleg (2009), NYU Strauss Center for the Study of Law and Justice (2012), the European University Institute in Florence (Summer 2015), Center for Gender Studies at Cambridge University ( Spring 2017), Columbia University Law School (Spring 2016; Spring 2018) and Center for Humanities and Critical Theory, Humboldt University Berlin (Summer 2018). She was Albert Hirschman Fellow at the Institute for the Human Sciences in Vienna in November 2023. VIEW MORE >>
Professor Benhabib holds Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Utrecht (2004), Valencia (2010), Bogazici University in Istanbul (2012), Georgetown University (2014), the University of Geneva (Fall 2018), the Center of Latin American Studies in Chile (Summer 2021) and the Université Catholique de Louvain and KULeuven (jointly awarded). (2024)
Her work has been translated into 13 languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Polish, Japanese, Chinese and Korean) and she has also edited and coedited 10 volumes on topics ranging from democracy and difference to the rights of migrant women and children; the communicative ethics controversy and Hannah Arendt. The volume, Migrations and Mobilities: Gender, Borders and Citizenship (NYU Press, 2009), co-edited with Judith Resnik from the Yale Law School was named by Choice one of the outstanding academic books of the year.
Her most recent books include: The Claims of Culture. Equality and Diversity in the Global Era, (2002); The Rights of Others. Aliens, Citizens and Residents (2004), winner of the Ralph Bunche award of the American Political Science Association (2005) and the North American Society for Social Philosophy award (2004); Another Cosmopolitanism: Hospitality, Sovereignty and Democratic Iterations, with responses by Jeremy Waldron, Bonnie Honig and Will Kymlicka (Oxford University Press, 2006); Dignity in Adversity. Human Rights in Troubled Times (UK and USA: Polity Press, 2011); Gleichheit und Differenz. Die Würde des Menschen und die Souveränitätsansprüche der Vőlker ( Equality and Difference. Human Dignity and Popular Sovereignty. Bilingual edition in English and German: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), and edited together with Volker Kaul, Toward New Democratic Imaginaries. Istanbul Seminars on Islam, Culture, and Politics (Springer 2016). Her latest book has appeared in 2018 from Princeton University Press, Exile, Statelessness and Migration. Playing Chess with History form Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin.
She is currently at work on a monograph for Polity Press called “At the Margins of the Modern State” and has edited a collection of articles with Ayelet Shachar on Migration and Refugee topics called, Lawless Zones, Rightless Subjects: Migration and Asylum New Border Regimes. (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)
Her work has been translated into 13 languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Polish, Japanese, Chinese and Korean) and she has also edited and coedited 10 volumes on topics ranging from democracy and difference to the rights of migrant women and children; the communicative ethics controversy and Hannah Arendt. The volume, Migrations and Mobilities: Gender, Borders and Citizenship (NYU Press, 2009), co-edited with Judith Resnik from the Yale Law School was named by Choice one of the outstanding academic books of the year.
Her most recent books include: The Claims of Culture. Equality and Diversity in the Global Era, (2002); The Rights of Others. Aliens, Citizens and Residents (2004), winner of the Ralph Bunche award of the American Political Science Association (2005) and the North American Society for Social Philosophy award (2004); Another Cosmopolitanism: Hospitality, Sovereignty and Democratic Iterations, with responses by Jeremy Waldron, Bonnie Honig and Will Kymlicka (Oxford University Press, 2006); Dignity in Adversity. Human Rights in Troubled Times (UK and USA: Polity Press, 2011); Gleichheit und Differenz. Die Würde des Menschen und die Souveränitätsansprüche der Vőlker ( Equality and Difference. Human Dignity and Popular Sovereignty. Bilingual edition in English and German: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), and edited together with Volker Kaul, Toward New Democratic Imaginaries. Istanbul Seminars on Islam, Culture, and Politics (Springer 2016). Her latest book has appeared in 2018 from Princeton University Press, Exile, Statelessness and Migration. Playing Chess with History form Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin.
She is currently at work on a monograph for Polity Press called “At the Margins of the Modern State” and has edited a collection of articles with Ayelet Shachar on Migration and Refugee topics called, Lawless Zones, Rightless Subjects: Migration and Asylum New Border Regimes. (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)
Roger Berkowitz
His essay "Reconciling Oneself to the Impossibility of Reconciliation: Judgment and Worldliness in Hannah Arendt's Politics," has helped bring attention to the centrality of reconciliation in Hannah Arendt's work. The Arendt Center organizes an annual conference every October. Professor Berkowitz edits the Hannah Arendt Center's weekly newsletter, Amor Mundi. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Paris Review Online, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, The American Interest, and many other publications. Berkowitz is the 2019 recipient of the Hannah Arendt Award for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Bremen, Germany.
Leon Botstein
He has published widely in the fields of education, music, and history and culture and is the author of several books including Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, and editor of The Compleat Brahms and The Musical Quarterly. He is the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra Now (TŌN), and conductor laureate and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director. He is the founder and artistic co-director of the Bard Music Festival. His work has been acknowledged with awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Harvard University, government of Austria, and Carnegie Foundation. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011.
He is also music director and principal conductor of The Orchestra Now (TŌN) and the American Symphony Orchestra, artistic co-director of the Bard Music Festival. Botstein is editor of The Musical Quarterly and writes on music and culture.
Deirdre D'Albertis
Khaled Furani
Seth Halvorson
Zoë Hitzig
Gilbert Johnson
After years of deep community engagement and peacebuilding work, Gilbert became the Lead Justice Organizer, leading CoCo's criminal justice reform and reentry work. While at CoCo, Gilbert drafted the 10-Point Plan to Reduce Violence in South Central after his friend, the late Ermias Asghedom, also known as Nipsey Hussle, passed away in 2019. This community-driven initiative morphed into the City of Los Angeles' current South LA Community Safety Initiative (SLACSI). The SLACSI helped reduce violent crime during the summer by implementing healing-centered activities in communities and parks across South Los Angeles.
Gilbert left CoCo to become the CA TimeDone Manager with Californians for Safety and Justice, helping to pass multiple state-level justice reform bills. Gilbert is a member of the Black Men Maroon Space, a group of formerly incarcerated Black men who engage in somatic transformative practices that unpack and address deep traumatic experiences.
Sebastian Junger
VIEW MORE >>
"Restrepo," which chronicled the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, is widely considered to have broken new ground in war reporting. Junger has since produced and directed three additional documentaries about war and its aftermath. "Which Way Is The Front Line From Here?", which premiered on HBO, chronicles the life and career of his friend and colleague, photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed while covering the civil war in Libya in 2011. "Korengal" returns to the subject of combat and tries to answer the eternal question of why young men miss war. "The Last Patrol", which also premiered on HBO, examines the complexities of returning from war by following Junger and three friends--all of whom had experienced combat, either as soldiers or reporters--as they travel up the East Coast railroad lines on foot as "high-speed vagrants."
Sebastian Junger is the founder and director of Vets Town Hall.
Junger has also written for magazines including Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Outside and Men's Journal. His reporting on Afghanistan in 2000, profiling Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated just days before 9/11, became the subject of the National Geographic documentary "Into the Forbidden Zone," and introduced America to the Afghan resistance fighting the Taliban.
He lives in New York City and Cape Cod.
Ann Lauterbach
Shai Lavi
He received his Ph.D. from the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, University of California Berkeley. His book The Modern Art of Dying: A History of Euthanasia in the United States (Princeton University Press) won the 2006 Distinguished Book Award in sociology of law from the American Sociological Association. He was a Fulbright fellow at the University of Berkeley, California, a visiting professor at Toronto University and at Cardozo Law School, and a Humboldt fellow at the Dubnow Instittue for Jewish History and Culture in Leipzig and at the faculty of law at the Humboldt University, Berlin. He is currently working on medical authority over the body in Germany, Turkey, and Israel. He is a member of the National Bioethics Council. He is also a member on several editorial boards including Law, Culture and Humanities Journal and Critical Analysis of Law.
Phillip "Rock" Lester
In 2016, Phillip became involved with policy reform, working with organizations such as ARC and LA Voice and Youth Justice Coalition. He has been active in multiple civic engagement campaigns, helping to advocate for resources within LA county, notably, Measure J as well as criminal justice reform policies in California such as Prop. 57, Prop. 17, SB 1308, SB 1391, SB 1437 and SB 731.
Phillip has an educational background in mathematics, sociology and art. He was honored and awarded in the Fall of 2021 with a Certificate of Appreciation by Arizona State University educators for his role in developing its ‘Future ID’ program, an on-campus course that demonstrates the impact of system-impacted people having a future vision for success. VIEW MORE >>
Phillip is currently working with the Everyday Heroes program in Watts, doing advocacy work, community engagement, and entrepreneurial training for the youth.
He is also a board member of the Watts Neighborhood Council and is the Southern Chapter Coordinator for Time Done.
He is also a board member of the Watts Neighborhood Council and is the Southern Chapter Coordinator for Time Done.
Jana Mader
Uday Mehta
Joseph O'Neill
Fintan O'Toole
Born in Dublin in 1958, he is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and an honorary international member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He taught at Princeton where was Professor of Irish Letters.
His many books include A Traitor’s Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan; White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America; A History of Ireland in 100 Objects; and Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain.
His most recent book, We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958 was named Book of the Year in the An Post Irish Book Awards and as one of the ten best books of 2022 by the New York Times.
Jana Schmidt
Allison Stanger
She is the author of Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington to Trump (Chinese edition to appear in September 2022) and One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy, both with Yale University Press. She is the co-editor (with W. Brian Arthur and Eric Beinhocker) of Complexity Economics, and the co-editor and co-translator (with Michael Kraus) of Irreconcilable Differences? Explaining Czechoslovakia's Dissolution (Foreword by Václav Havel). Stanger’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post.
She has been called to testify before Congress on five occasions and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Stanger received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.
Lyndsey Stonebridge
Niobe Way
Her work focuses on the intersections of culture, context, and human development, with a particular focus on social and emotional development and how cultural ideologies influence developmental trajectories. The Listening Project, her current project with Joseph Nelson, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, David Kirkland, and Alisha Ali, aims to foster curiosity and connection in and outside of middle school classrooms across New York City.
In addition, she created and teaches a core course for undergraduates at NYU called The Science of Human Connection. The course describes her theoretical and empirical framework developed over three decades and discussed in her latest co-edited book The Crisis of Connection: Its Roots, Consequences, and Solution (NYU Press). VIEW MORE >>
Dr. Way has also authored nearly a hundred journal articles and books, including Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection (Harvard University Press) and Everyday Courage: The Lives and Stories of Urban Teenagers (NYU Press). Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and numerous foundations including The National Science Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, The Einhorn Family Charitable Trust Foundation, and The Spencer Foundation. She is a contributor to Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and her research is regularly featured in mainstream media outlets (e.g., New York Times, NPR, Today Show, NBC). Examples include Two Cheers for Feminism! and Guys, We Have A Problem: How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men.
Thomas Chatterton Williams
Readings
Suggested Reading List for the ConferenceThe full conference will be available via Live Webcast. ALL registrants will also receive the link to the live webcast.
Get ready for our stimulating conference, "Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Imagine a Pluralist Politics?" To make the most of this event, we've curated a suggested reading list. These readings will provide you with a rich background and deeper understanding of the themes we'll be exploring during the conference. Plus, they're a great way to get your intellectual juices flowing before the big event! Here's what the reading list will do for you:
- Enhance Your Experience: Gain insights and context that will enrich your participation in discussions.
- Spark Conversations: Be prepared to engage in lively debates and thoughtful exchanges with fellow attendees.
- Deepen Your Knowledge: Explore the complexities of tribalism and cosmopolitanism through the lens of Hannah Arendt.
- Arendt, Hannah. Thinking without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975. Edited by Jerome Kohn, Harcourt, 2018.
- Arendt, Hannah. The Jew as Pariah: A Hidden Tradition. In: The Jewish Writings. Edited by Jerome Kohn and Ron H. Feldman. 2007.
- Arendt, Hannah. The Jewish State: Fifty Years After, Where Have Herzl’s Politics Lead. In: The Jewish Writings. Edited by Jerome Kohn and Ron H. Feldman. 2007.
- Arendt, Hannah. The Promise of Politics. Edited by Jerome Kohn, Schocken Books, 2005.
- Arendt, Hannah. Responsibility and Judgment. Edited by Jerome Kohn, Schocken Books, 2003.
- Arendt, Hannah. Continental Imperialism: The Pan Movements. In: The Origins of Totalitarianism. (chapter 8, especially I: Tribal Nationalism), 1951.
- Benhabib, Seyla. Another Cosmopolitanism. Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Chua, Amy. Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations. Penguin Press, 2018. (Chapter Seven: Inequality and the Tribal Chasm in America. Chapter Eight: Democracy and Political Tribalism in America)
- Horta, Paulo Lemos. Cosmopolitan Prejudice. In: Cosmopolitanisms, ed. By Bruce Robbins, et al. chp. 12
- Junger, Sebastian. Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. Twelve, 2016.
- Kant, Immanuel. Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View. In Perpetual Peace and Other Essays. Hackett Publishing Company, 1983.
- O’Toole, Fintan. We don’t know ourselves. A personal history of Modern Ireland.
- Putnam, Robert D. E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century. The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 2007, pp. 137-174.
- Stonebridge, Lyndsey. We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience. Hogarth, 2024.
- Way, Niobe. Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture. Dutton, 2024.
- Weyl, E. Glen, Audrey Tang. Plurality: The Future of Technology and Democracy. Radicalxchange, 2024.
- Williams, Thomas Chatterton. Self-Portrait in Black and White. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.
Additional Resources and Links:
- Benhabib, Seyla. An Open Letter to My Friends Who Signed “Philosophy For Palestine”, Nov. 4, 2023
- Berkowitz, Roger. The Letter Wars. Amor Mundi, 11-04-2023
- Doutout, Ross. The Myth of Cosmopolitanism, NY Times, July 2, 2016
- Drezner, Daniel. The Truth of Cosmopolitanism, Washington Post, July 5, 2016.
Location
How to Get to Bard
*NOTE: The full conference will be available via Live Webcast. ALL registrants will also receive the link to the live webcast.By Car:
The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus. Click the Google link above or get directions by entering the following address into your GPS: 51 Ravine Road, Red Hook, NY 12571.
From the East: If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.6 miles, turn left at the traffic light and continue on Annandale Road through our campus.
From the West: If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.5 miles, turn left at the traffic light and continue on Annandale Road through our campus.
From the East: If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.6 miles, turn left at the traffic light and continue on Annandale Road through our campus.
From the West: If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.5 miles, turn left at the traffic light and continue on Annandale Road through our campus.
By Train:
There are two train stations close to Bard College: one in Poughkeepsie (Metro North), New York, and the other in Rhinecliff (Amtrak), New York. Taxi service is available from either station to bring you to campus.
Amtrak provides service from Albany and from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Rhinecliff, about 9 miles south of Annandale. Taxi service is available at the station. Travel Time: Approximately two hours (one hour and 40 minutes by train and 15–20 minutes by taxi). Contact Information: Rhinecliff station can be reached at 845-876-3364. Reservations and schedule information at wwe.Amtrak.com
Metro-North commuter railroad provides service from Grand Central Station in New York City to Poughkeepsie, about 26 miles south of campus. Taxi service is available at the station. Travel Time: Approximately one hour and 30 minutes (40–50 minutes by train and 40 minutes by taxi).
Amtrak provides service from Albany and from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Rhinecliff, about 9 miles south of Annandale. Taxi service is available at the station. Travel Time: Approximately two hours (one hour and 40 minutes by train and 15–20 minutes by taxi). Contact Information: Rhinecliff station can be reached at 845-876-3364. Reservations and schedule information at wwe.Amtrak.com
Metro-North commuter railroad provides service from Grand Central Station in New York City to Poughkeepsie, about 26 miles south of campus. Taxi service is available at the station. Travel Time: Approximately one hour and 30 minutes (40–50 minutes by train and 40 minutes by taxi).
See here for more directions to Bard College.
Olin Hall
Accomodations
Local hotel offering a Bard Rate during the conference:
The Best Western Plus in Kingston, NY. To make reservations using the Bard discount, you must call the hotel direct at 845-338-0400 and ask for the “Bard College Discount.” (20% off) We recommend booking your accommodations as early as possible.
Parking is Free
Contest
Annual Conference Student Coverage
We are excited to invite all students to participate in covering our annual Hannah Arendt Center conference. This is a fantastic opportunity to get involved, showcase your skills, and share your unique perspective with a wider audience.What We're Looking For:
- a piece of writing (1 page or more) and photos OR
- a video (edited to no more than 3 min.) OR
- an interview with one or several conference speakers and photos
Why Participate?
We are looking for exceptional student journalism that will inform and inspire our audience. We encourage you to submit your best work. Only submissions that demonstrate a high level of quality and relevance to our conference will be selected for publication, on one of the following two platforms:
- Amor Mundi, our weekly newsletter that reaches thousands of members
- HAC social media platforms (X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) which, together, reach thousands of followers
The first prize winner will be selected by a committee of HAC-affiliated professors, who will be looking for submissions of exceptional quality that address/highlight aspects of the conference theme in new and interesting ways. Photos and video should be high quality. The first place winner will be announced and published in Amor Mundi.
How to Submit:
Benefits to You:
- Gain exposure and recognition for your work.
- Contribute to the college community and be celebrated for your creativity.
- Enhance your portfolio with published work.
Questions? Contact us at [email protected]
Media
Press InquiriesPlease contact:
Mark Primoff, Director of Communications
Bard College
845-758-7412
[email protected]
CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
COVERAGE:
On Tribalism with Sebastian Junger, For Love of the World on Radio Kingston
10/8/24 Special Lockbox Panel: Tribalism of Politics, The Roundtable on WAMC
Live from the 16th Annual Hannah Arendt Conference, La Voz on Radio Kingston
Selected Recordings from the Conference on WXBC (Bard's student-run radio station)
Bard College conference explores the variety of human interaction in Hudson Valley One
Hannah Arendt Center Conference 2024: Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism, 1st Morning in Veteran AF
This event occurred on:
OCTOBER 17-18, 2024
WATCH THE RECORDINGS
The Hannah Arendt Center's 16th annual fall conference will bring notable speakers to Bard College in Annandale to discuss the implications of tribalist politics just weeks before the national US election. The conference will spark important conversations and explore how to make space for loyalty and meaning while fostering a more pluralistic 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.
Arendt believed that the aspiration of politics is to bind together a plurality of persons in ways that do justice to their uniqueness and yet find what is common to them as members of a defined political community. Wary of the nation-state that would privilege the national community of the state over "foreigners" and "minorities," Arendt nevertheless opposed assimilation into a cosmopolitan sameness. Instead, she held onto a vision of politics centered around plurality and federalism, one in which homelands and regions of like-minded peoples would also live together in federalist republics that both respected the particularity of local identities and sought to build meaningful political bonds that transcend tribal sensibilities. Her plan for a federation in Israel and Palestine imagined Jewish and Palestinian homelands as part of a larger federal structure.
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 Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism responds to the undeniable fact that tribalism is real, appealing, and dangerous. We ask:
• If humans are tribal beings, how can they live in multicultural liberal societies?
• Are experts and elites themselves simply one tribe defending their self-interests?
• Must social media contribute to the fracturing of society into raging tribes?
• Is there a common interest in society knowable through reason?
•What is a tribe and is it a useful word in our political vocabulary?
•Is there an alternative to the cosmopolitan tribalism of global elites?
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?
The full conference will be available via Live Webcast. ALL registrants will also receive the link to the live webcast.
WATCH THE RECORDINGS
The Hannah Arendt Center's 16th annual fall conference will bring notable speakers to Bard College in Annandale to discuss the implications of tribalist politics just weeks before the national US election. The conference will spark important conversations and explore how to make space for loyalty and meaning while fostering a more pluralistic 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.
Arendt believed that the aspiration of politics is to bind together a plurality of persons in ways that do justice to their uniqueness and yet find what is common to them as members of a defined political community. Wary of the nation-state that would privilege the national community of the state over "foreigners" and "minorities," Arendt nevertheless opposed assimilation into a cosmopolitan sameness. Instead, she held onto a vision of politics centered around plurality and federalism, one in which homelands and regions of like-minded peoples would also live together in federalist republics that both respected the particularity of local identities and sought to build meaningful political bonds that transcend tribal sensibilities. Her plan for a federation in Israel and Palestine imagined Jewish and Palestinian homelands as part of a larger federal structure.
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 Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism responds to the undeniable fact that tribalism is real, appealing, and dangerous. We ask:
• If humans are tribal beings, how can they live in multicultural liberal societies?
• Are experts and elites themselves simply one tribe defending their self-interests?
• Must social media contribute to the fracturing of society into raging tribes?
• Is there a common interest in society knowable through reason?
•What is a tribe and is it a useful word in our political vocabulary?
•Is there an alternative to the cosmopolitan tribalism of global elites?
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?
The full conference will be available via Live Webcast. ALL registrants will also receive the link to the live webcast.