Frederick Douglass Initiative: “Demagoguery and Self-Government”
On March 12, 2021, the Frederick Douglass Initiative at Providence College, a new JMC partner program, will be hosting faculty partner Bryan Garsten for a lecture on demagoguery and self-government.
Friday, March 12, 2021 • 3:00 PM EST
A virtual lecture
Click here to learn more and attend >>
Bryan Garsten is a Professor of Political Science and the Humanities and Chair of the Humanities Program at Yale University. He is the author of Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment (Harvard University Press, 2006) as well as articles on political rhetoric and deliberation, the meaning of representative government, the relationship of politics and religion, and the place of emotions in political life. A leader in education as well as political science, Garsten is the founder of the Citizens, Thinkers, Writers program for students in New Haven, CT public schools.
Professor Garsten is a JMC faculty partner.
Learn more about Bryan Garsten >>
The ability to confront opposing opinions, to reason critically, and to both discern and employ rhetorical tactics of persuasion is essential to a healthy democracy—particularly within a pluralistic society. As such, a properly democratic civic education ought to instill in students such habits of rational disputation.
In opposition to many current trends, the Frederick Douglass Initiative at Providence College promotes the practice of rational disputation in students today. This interdisciplinary program, organized as an initiative of the Humanities Program at Providence College, offers a series of workshops culminating in an annual Essay & Public Speaking contest to be held in Spring 2021. The program promote students’ active participation in public persuasion and dissent while also sparking a broader discussion about the place of free exchange of opinion in the academy and in a liberal democracy.
Click here to view more events from the Frederick Douglass Initiative >>
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