[URBANTH-L]NYC forum: Obama's America: Imperialism, Crisis and Democracy

[Jeff Maskovsky]

Dear all,

It would be great see everyone at this forum.

Best, Jeff


Monday, May 11, 2009

1:30PM-4:30PM



The Anthropology Section

of the New York Academy of Sciences and

the Wenner-Gren Foundation invite you to a

  Co-sponsored Event





Obama's America: Imperialism, Crisis and Democracy





A forum celebrating the publication of the new volume,

Rethinking America: The Imperial Homeland in the 21st Century,

Edited by Jeff Maskovsky and Ida Susser





Speakers:



Peter Kwong, Jeff Maskovsky, Sally Merry, Don Robotham,

Ida Susser, Jane Schneider, Peter Schneider



Discussants:



Setha Low and Frances Fox Piven



Location: Wenner-Gren Foundation, 470 Park Avenue South, 8th floor,  
Manhattan.

(Nearest subways #6 at 33rd St., #s 4,5,7 at 42nd St-Grand Central.)



Tickets: Open to all, no admission charge.

Attendees MUST register ahead of time by e-mailing: hlessinger at gmail.com



How best might we characterize the changes that are underway in the  
United States today? What is the imperial legacy of the Bush  
administration, and to what extent does the presidency of Barak Obama  
represent a break with the past? How has the economic crisis changed  
US politics and policies?  What, if any, new democratic possibilities  
are on the horizon? Join us for a forum where we will explore the  
current state of imperialism, crisis and democracy in the United States.



The forum celebrates the publication of the new volume, Rethinking  
America: The Imperial Homeland in the 21st Century, Edited by Jeff  
Maskovsky and Ida Susser.  This new collection highlights the  
connection of U.S. imperial strategies to the production of  
insecurity, uncertainty, and deepening inequality “at home,” and  
provides a vital baseline for assessing the complexity of economic,  
cultural and political shifts that are currently underway in 'Obama's  
America.'





Program



1:30-1:45 - Welcome and Introduction - Jeff Maskovsky and Ida Susser





1:45-3:00 - Panel # 1 - Difference, Inequality and the New America



Jane Schneider (The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Peter Schneider  
(Fordham), "The United States and the  Underworld System: Predatory  
Crime, Illegal Traf﬙cking, and Sponsored

Criminality"



Peter Kwong (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY), "What's  
Wrong with the US Immigration Debate"



Sally Merry (NYU), "Human Rights in the Imperial Heartland"



Discussant: Setha Low (The Graduate Center, CUNY)





3:15-4:30 - Panel # 2 - The Death of Neoliberalism?



Jeff Maskovsky (Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY), "Main  
Street vs. Wall Street?  Security and  Securitization in Obama's  
America"



Don Robotham (The Graduate Center, CUNY), "Liberal Social Democracy,  
Neoliberalism, and  Neoconservatism: Some Genealogies"



Ida Susser (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY), "Imperial  
Moralities"



Discussant: Frances Fox Piven (The Graduate Center, CUNY)



Reception to follow.









Jeff Maskovsky
Ph.D. Program in Anthropology
The CUNY Graduate Center, Rm. 6402.10
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309
E-mail: jmaskovsky at gc.cuny.edu