Speaker Series

COMIT’s speaker series bring together leading thinkers and practitioners to engage the pressing questions and dilemmas confronting humanity today.

Current series

In 2021-22, COMIT presents two online series: Identity and Belonging in a Global Age and On the Spiritual in Contemporary Architecture.

2021-2022 Online Speaker Series

Identity and Belonging in a Global Age

With the rise of tribalism and nationalism throughout the world, questions of collective identity and belonging have surged to prominence in recent years. Across numerous disciplines and discourses, a key dilemma has taken shape: how to reconcile the legitimate yearning for rootedness and locality, with the fluidity and porousness of an increasingly global age. This series brings together leading thinkers from a variety of perspectives to examine and reframe the crises of identity that confront us in a rapidly changing global age, and to think deeply about how humanity might resolve them. Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, and COMIT.

Cornel West, Achille Mbembe, Barbara J. Fields, Craig Calhoun, Juliet Hooker, Akeel Bilgrami, Arturo Escobar, Inés Valdez, Glen Coulthard, Or Rosenboim, Derik Smith, Samuel Moyn, David A. Palmer

Akeel Bilgrami and Cornel West

Identity, Spirituality, and Social Change

Or Rosenboim and Inés Valdez

Identity and Alternative Visions of World Order

Glen Coulthard and Arturo Escobar

Beyond "Recognition": Self, Other, and the Making of Collective Identities in Colonial Contexts

Barbara Fields and Derik Smith

Identity, Justice, and the Future of “Race”

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2021-2022 Online Speaker Series

On the Spiritual in Contemporary Architecture

This series explores how the material medium of architecture facilitates transcendent experiences. Each event features a virtual talk and visual presentation by a distinguished working architect, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Michael J. Crosbie. Sponsored by the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum, the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, and COMIT.

Joan Soranno: Lakewood Cemetery Mausoleum in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Panel discussion featuring Karla Britton Thomas Fisher Frances Halsband Jay M. Price

Siamak Hariri: Baha'i House of Worship in Santiago, Chile

Panel discussion featuring Hossein Amanat Roberto Chiotti Susan Jones Phillip Tabb

Brigitte Shim: Congregation Bet Ha'am Synagogue in South Portland, Maine

Panel discussion featuring Vanessa Avery Michael Benedikt David Leatherbarrow

Nader Ardalan: Shams-i-Tabrizi Mausoleum in Khoy, Iran

Panel discussion featuring Maryam Eskandari Tammy Gaber Bruce Lawrence Gary J. Coates

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Past series

2020-2021 Online Speaker Series

The Liberal Imaginary and Beyond

The Liberal Imaginary and Beyond brought together leading thinkers to examine the origins, contents, and development of post-war liberalism, and to consider significant attempts to move beyond the resultant liberal imaginary without casting aside its impressive moral and political achievements. Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge, and COMIT.

Akeel Bilgrami and Charles Taylor

Secularism and the Political Culture of Modern Societies

Seyla Benhabib and Kwame Anthony Appiah

The Future of Cosmopolitanism

Joseph Chan and David Wong

Confucianism and Modern Political Thought

Lawrence Blum and Derik Smith

Oneness and Difference in the Discourse on Race

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