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Vol. 3, No. 6 - January 27, 2004
| Jihad, McWorld, Modernity: Public Intellectuals Debate the "Clash of Civilizations" Skidmore will host a conference Feb. 6-8 titled Jihad, McWorld, Modernity: Public Intellectuals Debate the "Clash of Civilizations." The conference will bring together 15 leading thinkers to debate such issues as the conflict between religious/tribal fundamentalism and secular consumerist capitalism, the ethics of globalization, terrorism's challenge to democracy, and the concept of a just war against terrorism. Rather than presenting prepared lectures, the participants will exchange views, debate, and respond to questions from the moderator and audience. Much of the discussion will stem from specified readings, including excerpts from Women and Human Development by Martha Nussbaum, Jihad vs. McWorld by Benjamin Barber, Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, Modern Iran by Nikki Keddie, One World by Peter Singer, The Dream Palace of the Arabs by Fouad Ajami, and Just War Against Terror by Jean Bethke Elshtain. Sessions include the following: · 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, "Jihad vs. McWorld Revisited: The War Between Democracy and Globalization," featuring all panelists and introductory remarks by Benjamin Barber; · 10 to 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, all panelists will participate in a discussion titled "Arab Dreams and Delusions"; · 11:30 to 1 p.m. Feb. 7, all panelists will discuss "Just War Against Terror," with introductory remarks by Jean Elshtain and Christopher Hitchens; · 2:30 to 5 p.m. Feb. 7, all panelists will discuss "Ethics and Universal Values vs. the Claims of Diversity," with introductory remarks by Martha Nussbaum; · 5:30 to 7 p.m., all panelists will participate in an interview, to be conducted by Danny Postel, Lorrie Goldensohn, and Stan Yake. · 9 a.m. to noon, Sunday, Feb. 8, final conference session titled "How to Think About a World on Fire," with introductory remarks by Martha Nussbaum. All sessions will be in the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater on campus. The cost (any session or all) is $25 for the public, free for Skidmore students, faculty, and staff. For reservations, e-mail Peggy Boyers at pboyers@skidmore.edu or call 518-461-3213. The conference is sponsored by Salmagundi magazine in conjunction with the College's Office of the President, Student Speakers Bureau, Honors Forum, and International Relations Program. The meeting has been organized by Robert Boyers, editor of Salmagundi and Tisch Professor of Arts and Letters at Skidmore, with assistance from Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freud Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Conference chairpersons are Boyers and Skidmore Professor of English Carolyn Forché. In addition to Nussbaum, the following are conference participants: * Orlando Patterson, Cowles Professor of Sociology, Harvard University * Christopher Hitchens, formerly columnist at The Nation and a leading public intellectual * Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University * Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, Harvard University. * Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago * Carolyn Forché, poet, editor of the poetry anthology Against Forgetting, translator, and human rights activist * Benjamin Barber, Kekst Professor and director of the Kekst Center for Democratic Studies, University of Maryland * Peter Singer, DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University * James Miller, director of liberal studies, Graduate Faculty, New School University (NYC) and editor-in-chief of the journal Daedalus * Abduh An-naim, Distinguished Professor at the Emory Law School * Danny Postel, on the editorial staff of Daedelus and a frequent contributor to The Nation. * Nikki Keddie, professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles * Enrique Krauze, editor of Lettras Libres (Mexico City) * Vladimir Tismaneanu, professor of politics at the University of Maryland Skidmore
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