WSU - Humanities

Detroit and many other American cities face a new reality at the turn of the twenty-first century: more Americans now live in suburbs than in central cities. In fact, the 2000 census figures show that Detroit has lost over seven percent of the population it had in 1990. These reflections, projections, and new realities invite intellectual, artistic, and other creative responses from humanists from all disciplines.

Because of changes in urban demographics, the manner in which scholars study cities is evolving. Urban historians now investigate the development of “megalopolises;” city planners and architects follow the mandates of the “New Urbanism;” and the National conference of Mayors hopes to convince President Bush to adopt a new “urban agenda.”

Fundamental philosophical, political, social, legal, and civic questions arise from the changing nature of cities and urban life. For instance, what constitutes a modern city? Does the basic concept of a city as a discrete urban entity - that is, a legal-institutional structure with distinct geographical borders and a group of people living within those borders - still have meaning in 2001? How does the individual citizen fit into the modern city or suburb? What are the roles of the urban citizen? And how does the major city relate to surrounding cities and suburbs, and to the federal government? What is the nature of civic virtue in this changing civic, social, and political environment? How do conceptions of civic virtue and/or civic duty inform answers to these questions, as well as to broader questions about the general relationship of individuals to cities and communities? How have changing constructions of the public embodied differing notions of civic duty? Does any citizen - urban, suburban, or rural - have the right to opt out of the civic project?

Faculty Fellows 2001-2002:

Jeffrey Abt, Art & Art History
Artists, Museums, and the Civic Audience for Art
Dora Apel, Art & Art History
Lynching Imagery in America
John Corvino, Philosophy
Homosexuality, Education, and Public Values
Margaret Franklin, Art & Art History
Classical Heroines and Civic Virtue in Renaissance Society
Gwen Gorzelsky, English
Echoes Half Heard: Community Activists, Collective Movements
Richard Marback, English
Narratives of Place and the Making of Civic Virtue in Capetown
Laura Reese, Geography & Urban Planning
Reconstituting Virtue
Barrett Watten, English
Civic Ideals and City Life in the New American Poetry