Amid economic turbulence, environmental disaster, and political shocks, some observers today perceive a crisis of futurity, manifested in an inability to imagine better times to come, in a mythic embroidery of old times, or in fears of bygone calamities now returned to haunt the world. Under such conditions, the horizon of expectation and hope may darken, making it ever more difficult to mobilize effectively for change or even construct meaningful lives.

On Thursday, two eminent and deeply engaged scholars, historian Robin Blackburn and philosopher Nancy Fraser, will address the problem of politics and vision in our time as well as present prospects for reopening the future. 

On Friday, University of Michigan faculty Lisa Disch (Political Science) and Kali Israel (History) will respond and join Blackburn and Fraser for discussion.

Robin Blackburn teaches at the Graduate Faculty of the New School University, New York, and in the Sociology Department of the University of Essex. The former editor of New Left Review, he is the author of Banking on Death—Or, Investing in Life: The History and Future of Pensions, The Making of New World Slavery and The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, and Age Shock: How Finance Is Failing Us.

Nancy Fraser is Henry A. & Louise Loeb Professor of Political & Social Science at The New School for Social Research, Einstein Fellow of the city of Berlin, and holder of the “Global Justice” Chair at the Collège d’études mondiales in Paris. Her books include Redistribution or Recognition, Adding Insult to Injury, Scales of Justice, Justice Interruptus, and Unruly Practices.

Free and open to the public.

This event is part of the Thursday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.