Past Events at the Centre for the Study of the United States
May 2024
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Thursday, May 9th – Friday, May 10th 2024 Bissel-Heyd Symposium American Constitutionalism in Crisis?
Date Time Location Thursday, May 9, 2024 2:30PM - 6:30PM The Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, 'Munk Centre For International Studies - 1 Devonshire Place Friday, May 10, 2024 8:30AM - 5:00PM The Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, 'Munk Centre For International Studies - 1 Devonshire Place Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Description
As the United States hurtles towards the 2024 presidential election, the integrity of its constitutional system faces serious questions. The last several years alone have brought both jurisprudential revolution and legislative gridlock; democratic backsliding and enervated governance; deepening partisan division and disappearing common ground; an attempted insurrection and protracted efforts to hold those responsible to account. In turn, these challenges have fuelled a range of proposed solutions, from disempowering the Supreme Court and bolstering electoral democracy to retrenching national power and reviving an assertive federalism. Against this fraught backdrop, the 2024 Bissell-Heyd Symposium will probe the question raised by these developments: Is American constitutionalism in crisis? Engaging this topic requires clarifying what crisis entails, as well as identifying both past cases and present causes of constitutional infirmity. Animated by the conviction that such questions are best answered by situating contemporary American constitutional politics within both historical and comparative context, the symposium will feature three keynote speakers: Maggie Blackhawk (New York University Law School), Jonathan Gienapp (Stanford University), and Rogers Smith (University of Pennsylvania). These addresses will be complemented by a series of thematic panels probing the meaning, history, and dimensions of constitutional crisis.
Schedule
Thursday, May 9
3:00pm-3:15pm Introduction
3:15pm-4:45pm Panel 1: What is Constitutional Crisis?
Connor Ewing, University of Toronto
Ran Hirschl, University of Toronto
Victoria Nourse, Georgetown University Law Center
4:45pm-5:00pm Break
5:00pm-6:30pm Keynote 1: “America’s Conflicting Constitutional Visions: The Quest for Common Ground,” Rogers Smith, University of Pennsylvania
Friday, May 10
8:30am-9:00am Breakfast
9:00am-10:20am Panel 2: Constitutional Crisis in Historical Perspective
Zachary Elkins, University of Texas at Austin
Max Mishler, University of Toronto
Emily Zackin, Johns Hopkins University
10:20am-10:30am Break
10:30am-12:00pm Keynote 2: “The Constitution of American Colonialism,” Maggie Blackhawk, NYU Law School
12:00pm-1:00pm Lunch & Break
1:00pm-2:20pm Panel 3: Dimensions of Crisis
Yasmin Dawood, University of Toronto
Rob Goodman, Toronto Metropolitan University
Robert Schertzer, University of Toronto
2:20pm-2:30pm Break
2:30pm-4:00pm Keynote 3: “The Crisis of History in U.S. Constitutional Interpretation,” Jonathan Gienapp, Stanford University
Organized by the Centre for the Study of the United States, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the David R. Cameron Distinguished Professorship in Law and Politics and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
If you are attending a Munk School event and require accommodation(s), please email the event contact listed above to make appropriate arrangements.
Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.
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Tuesday, May 14th Ecologies of Empire Salon: Imperial Heat
Date Time Location Tuesday, May 14, 2024 4:00PM - 7:00PM External Event, External Event + Register for this Event Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Description
Location: William Doo Auditorium | 45 Willcocks St.
Join us for Imperial Heat, the second in the Ecologies of Empire Salon series hosted by the TWIG Research Kitchen. Imperial Heat asks us to consider what we can know about colonialism, empire, and the governance of raced and gendered difference if we begin by exploring infrastructures of thermal comfort. Featuring Hi’ilei Hobart, author of Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (Duke 2022) and Bharat Venkat, Director of the UCLA Heat Lab, this discussion will help us understand heating and cooling as political and deeply historicized processes with much to tell us about bodies, technoscience, and power. Our conversation will be moderated by Waqas Butt, author of Life Beyond Waste: Work and Infrastructure in Urban Pakistan (Stanford 2023).
CART captioning will be provided. The William Doo auditorium is wheelchair accessible.
Co-Sponsors: CSUS, TWIG Research Kitchen, Ziibing Lab
If you are attending a Munk School event and require accommodation(s), please email the event contact listed above to make appropriate arrangements.
Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.
