This seminar is attuned to the times we live in while addressing universal concerns of human life and historical experience. The relationship between “peace” and “protest” is essential to the dynamic of democracy. Peace is a necessary political condition for ensuring progress in a fair and just society; it is a shield against the violence and wastage of war. Democratic ideals and institutions are perennially at risk of corruption and decline, at which point “keeping the peace” gives rise to authoritarian policies and policing that threaten fundamental freedoms, rights, and liberties.

Just as peace “at all costs” often leads to the death of democracy, protest “at all costs” might vitiate the political “goods” and virtues that it seeks to establish. How do we walk the political tightrope between “peace and protest”? How do we establish moral frameworks of negotiation rather than negation? This seminar will approach these questions through the humanistic disciplines of literature, philosophy, art and politics.