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Cities, Citizenship, and Civic Engagement
M. Anne Pitcher, Director
 With
the threat of floods and fire, disease and global warming, what
responsibilities should governments shoulder and what burdens should their
citizens carry? In an age of urban sprawl and gated communities, squatter
settlements and assisted living, what are the possibilities for civic
engagement, or alternatively, social disintegration? This year the Center
for Ethics and World Societies will examine the creative efforts by
individuals and organizations to participate meaningfully in politics, in
public discourse, and in cultural movements that enhance the public
welfare. Through films, lectures, roundtables, and art exhibitions, it will
debate and discuss how citizens now and in the past have sacrificed personal
comforts, volunteered their time, or shared their artistic abilities for
causes that they valued. It will explore also how natural and unnatural
disasters, historical patterns of discrimination, and technological
innovation can generate new opportunities for civic participation or produce
novel forms of social exclusion. |
