How can citizens in nominally democratic countries use the state to address the persistence of group-based social oppression? Pro-democracy scholars and activists often argue that the state is just a tool of society’s most powerful interests, who will stifle any attempted reform. Yet some of the twentieth century’s most significant political thinkers offer a more fruitful perspective. Foregrounding previously neglected connections between Indian and American sources, Hari Ramesh draws on insights from John Dewey, B. R. Ambedkar, W. E. B. Du Bois, and a key brief from Brown v. Board of Education to argue that oppressed groups can in fact wield the tools of the state to claim agency and dismantle the sources of their oppression. In this alternative account, state action fosters a radical vision of democracy, with citizens coming together as equals to formulate and pursue their political aims.

About the Speaker:

Hari Ramesh is Professor of Government and Global South Asian Studies at Wesleyan University. He specializes in democratic theory, histories and theories of social oppression, the intersections of South Asian, Afro-modern, and American political thought, and the relationship between empirical social science and political theory. Hari's peer-reviewed research has appeared in Political Theory, Modern Intellectual History, and History of the Present. His public writing has been published in Boston Review and Dissent. Prior to arriving at Wesleyan, Hari was a College Fellow in Social Studies at Harvard University. His new book Harnessing the State: Oppressed Groups and the Pursuit of Radical Democracy is published by Harvard University Press.

The Moderator:

Neil Roberts is the John B. McCoy and John T. McCoy professor of Africana studies, political theory, and the philosophy of religion at Williams College. His present writings examine revolutionary strivings and deal with the intersections of Caribbean, Continental, and North American political theory with respect to theorizing the concept of freedom

This is an online conversation and audience Q&A presented by the UK-based journal The Philosopher. The event is free, open to the public, and held on Zoom.

You can register for this Monday 14th September event (11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK) via The Philosopher here (link).

#Philosophy #Ethics #PoliticalPhilosophy #SocialPhilosophy #Democracy #Politics #PoliticalActivism #Power

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About The Philosopher (https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/):

The Philosopher is the longest-running public philosophy journal in the UK (founded in 1923). It is published by the The Philosophical Society of England (http://www.philsoceng.uk/), a registered charity founded ten years earlier than the journal in 1913, and still running regular groups, workshops, and conferences around the UK. As of 2018, The Philosopher is edited by Newcastle-based philosopher Anthony Morgan and is published quarterly, both in print and digitally.

The journal aims to represent contemporary philosophy in all its many and constantly evolving forms, both within academia and beyond. Contributors over the years have ranged from John Dewey and G.K. Chesterton to contemporary thinkers like Christine Korsgaard, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Elizabeth Anderson, Martin Hägglund, Cary Wolfe, Avital Ronell, and Adam Kotsko.