Jan 26
Mourning Democracy and Accounting for Ourselves
Dr. Elías Ortega, President and Professor of Religion, Ethics, & Leadership
Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago
The story of the U.S. Democratic Experiment is usually told from an idealized perspective where life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness are self-evident truths and rights not to be violated. Yet, the impact of realizing the nation's democratic aspirations has left behind signposts that witness to unequal experiences and exclusion from these aspirations based on race, gender, class, religious identity, and ethnic status, among other social, political, and historical factors. Such exclusions have created gaps within the nation's democratic aspirations and governance, making it susceptible to exploitation by what political scientist William E. Connolly terms "Aspirational Fascism."
Drawing insights from the work of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, and writer James Baldwin, as well as the tradition of Liberation Theology, this lecture explores the potential for mobilizing an ethical posture of mourning in the current moment of American Democracy. What resources may be available for organizing, mutual support, renewing community belonging, and imagining new possibilities for democracy will need to take stock of the work of mourning necessary to give an honest account of the nature, reach, and possibility of this way of governing our lives called democracy.
Dinner Following the Lecture
Sponsors: Office of the Chaplain, the Division of Inclusion, Equity, and Community, and the Dacie Moses House
from Chaplain's Office