colloquium spring 2013

[Paul Meuse]

Hi Guys,

This is an email to find out if there is some interest in starting up the colloquium again.  For those who aren't familiar with it the colloquium is simply a weekly small group discussion covering theories of society, culture and politics.  The discussions usually lasted no more than an hour 20 or an hour and a half at the most.  This is something that I and a few others began doing last fall and would like to continue (especially for 1st yr. grad students that are interested and want to carry the torch!).  I like to think of it as an informal  gathering to discuss big ideas, philosophy, etc.  

For MPP students I think it's a nice way to balance out all the number crunching and being told what to learn and how to learn it.

In the fall we read some texts by Plato, Habermas, David Riesman and others and focused many of our discussions on the topic of "modernity." Topics and theorists are flexible and the colloquium can also reflect individuals' interests.

The reading will be light - equivalent to a journal article per week and the discussions are facilitated by Philipp Kneis and possible Allison Davis-White Eyes, who also head up the Transatlantic Student Symposium on behalf of OSU.

Please let me know if you are interested. If there is enough interest we will probably meet sometime on Fridays I'm guessing either in the morning or early afternoon.

Cheers

Paul