Democracy and the Culture of Civic Conversation: Past, Present, and Future

FAIN: MB-50079-10

California Humanities (Oakland, CA 94607-3945)
Ralph Lewin (Project Director: June 2010 to March 2014)
Christina Sutherland (Project Director: March 2014 to March 2015)
Julie Fry (Project Director: March 2015 to April 2012)

Planning and implementation of a public forum and workshop analyzing the past, present, and future meanings and uses of civility in America.

The California Council for the Humanities and its partners will present a day-long forum on the theme of Democracy and the Culture of Civic Conversation: Past, Present, and Future. The forum will bring together scholars and public intellectuals with public humanities program providers, educators, students, and members of the general public to explore and discuss the relationship between the culture of civic conversation and democracy in America through time. In addition to providing a rigorous and engaging humanities experience for members of the public who participate in the event (in-person or virtually) the forum will also serve as an opportunity for programming partners (e.g., librarians, teachers, scholars, culturists) to enrich an ongoing program development process to be advanced at a day-long planning workshop after the forum. As a result of these activities, we will produce an implementation plan for a range of public humanities programs that will extend into 2012.