Project
Cultural pluralism has posed a major problem for democracy: how can the diversity of cultures be reconciled with a politics of equality? Globalization has, according to some, added a new urgency to this problem. It has not, however, eliminated a certain passive isolationism in the intellectual sphere due, in the best cases, less to xenophobic prejudice than to a common language, a shared cultural tradition or a lack of institutional coordination. Hence the necessity of creating forums of debate for a transnational inquiry into the relationship between democracy and culture at the opening of the 21st century.

In the present case, it is a matter of introducing to the French-speaking public some of the major participants in the international debate on multiculturalism. The conference participants who have been chosen not only represent some of the most important positions in the current phase of the debate, but they also attest to a long-standing interest in postwar European thought. In spite of the small number of translations of their most recent work into French, some contemporary Francophone intellectuals have not only recognized the contribution of their foreign associates, but they have also been actively participating in the international debate. Hence the decision to ask them to participate in the conference series in order to open a veritable transatlantic debate on the ethico-political stakes of multicultural societies. In a time when the question of the relationship between democracy and cultural pluralism imposes itself with growing urgency, it is necessary to nourish this debate in order to put current political thought to the test of cultural challenges from the outside.

Current Activities

Organizers
Gabriel Rockhill (gabriel_rockhill@yahoo.fr)
Alfredo Gomez-Muller (agomezmr@hotmail.com)

Program 2006-2007
December
Monday 11 at 7 p.m., Centre Parisien d'Etudes Critiques
Nancy Fraser, "Abnormal Justice"
Response Paper: Gabriel Rockhill, "Paradigms of the Present: Reframing Global Justice"

Tuesday 12 at 6:30, Room 6, New York University in France
Nancy Fraser, round table with Eric Fassin, Geneviève Fraisse, and Gabriel Rockhill (moderator):
"Cultural Justice and Distributive Justice"

March
Thursday 22 at 6:30 p.m., Grand Salon, American University of Paris
Immanuel Wallerstein: "La Nation contre la démocratie?" (in French)
Response Paper: Georges Labica (in French)

April
Thursday 26 at 6:30 p.m., Room 6, New York University in France
Gabriel Rockhill: "Culture et civilisation : Histoire conceptuelle et enjeux politiques" (in French)

May
Monday 21 at 6:30 p.m., Room 6, New York University in France
Will Kymlicka: "Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity"
Response Paper: Alfredo GOMEZ-MULLER

Tuesday 22 at 2 p.m., Grand Salon, American University of Paris
Will Kymlicka, round table with Richard Beardsworth, Christian Joppke and Gabriel Rockhill:
"Liberalism and Multicultural Societies"

June
Monday 11 at 6:30 p.m., Room 6, New York University in France
Cynthia Willett, "Freedom: A Comic Perspective"

Tuesday 12 at 6:30 p.m., Room B01, Institut Catholique de Paris
Alfredo Gomez-Muller: "Culture, anti-culture, idéologie" (in French)

Addresses
American University of Paris
31, avenue Bosquet
75007 Paris

Centre Parisien d'Etudes Critiques (code : 1418)
154, boulevard Haussmann
75008 Paris

Institut Catholique
21, rue d'Assas
75006 Paris

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
27, rue Saint-Guillaume
75007 Paris

New York University in France (code : 1789)
56, rue de Passy (code : B9821)
75016 Paris

Participation
Open to the public.
Please confirm your participation by contacting New York University in France: 01.53.92.50.80 or nyu-in-france@nyu.edu

Last Updated 10/27/07