Sponsored Event: Building Democracies in Times of Populism and Polarization – The 2024 Adams Symposium Keynote

How can we overcome the distrust of democratic institutions if we promote populist or technocratic assumptions that threaten the democratic commitment to inclusion? How do proposals for citizen assemblies or citizen participation reinforce populist or technocratic aims that will further weaken democratic institutions?

The seventh annual symposium in honor of distinguished UNC philosopher Maynard Adams (1919–2003) will address these questions and examine current challenges to democratic societies.

Philosopher Cristina Lafont of Northwestern University will deliver the keynote address for this year’s symposium. Her influential writings on political philosophy include Democracy without Shortcuts and other works that examine how democratic societies can move beyond the anti-democratic dangers of radical populism and elitist technocracies.

Professor Lafont’s remarks will frame a conversation on the following day in which faculty colleagues, public humanists, and others will discuss ways to sustain civic life and democracy in contemporary political cultures.

The Adams Symposium is free and open to the public. Both days will take place at the Kenan Conference Center (click for map, scroll down for parking information) at the Kenan-Flagler Business School on UNC’s Campus.

About Our Speaker

Dr. Cristina Lafont, is the Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University. Her current research focuses on normative questions in political philosophy concerning democracy and citizen participation, global governance, human rights, religion and politics. She is the author of Democracy without Shortcuts (Oxford University Press, 2020), Global Governance and Human Rights (Spinoza Lecture Series, van Gorcum, 2012), The Linguistic Turn in Hermeneutic Philosophy (MIT Press, 1999), Heidegger, Language, and World-disclosure (Cambridge University Press, 2000), and co-editor of Critical Theory in Critical Times: Transforming the Global Political and Economic Order (Columbia University Press, 2017) and The Habermas Handbook (Columbia University Press, 2017). She has also published numerous articles in contemporary moral and political philosophy. In 2011 she was named to the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam, and in 2012/13 she was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. She is the director of the Program in Critical Theory and co-director of the Research Group on Global Capitalism and Law funded by a “Big Ideas” grant of the Buffett Institute at Northwestern University. She is the recipient (with Alex Guerrero) of the 2022 Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution. For more about Dr. Lafont’s work, click here.

Parking Information

Due to construction, Kenan Center Dr will be closed. There will be two places to park for the Adams Symposium:

1. The Kenan Visitor Center Lot, which is the closest lot to the entrance of the Kenan Conference Center. This lot will be accessible via Mason Farm Rd. Look for the orange sandwich board on Mason Farm Rd indicating where to turn for Adams Symposium Parking. Please see THIS MAP for directions on how to access the Kenan Visitor Center Lot.
2. The Business School Parking Deck, which is accessible via Skipper Bowles Dr. After parking, take the elevator to the 6th floor to access the pedestrian bridge. Once you cross the bridge, the Kenan Center will be on your left. Please see THIS MAP for directions on how to access the Business School Parking Deck.

Please complete this form if you wish to receive updates about attending the Adams Symposium IN-PERSON. We plan to send updates the week of the Symposium.

 Virtual Keynote Registration 

 Virtual Panel Registration