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Category: Digital Revolution

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Kluge Center Welcomes New Chairs in Residence

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

Four scholars holding chair positions at the Kluge Center began their terms in residence in September 2021. These positions are filled by invitation of the Librarian of Congress and scholars enjoy individual offices in the Jefferson Building, where they engage in writing and research and interact with other scholars in residence. Keep reading to get …

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Thérèse Bonney: Curator, Photographer, Syndicator, Spy

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is a guest post by Kluge Center Research Assistant Sophia Zahner, an interview with 2021 Kluge Fellow Caroline Riley. Riley is also a Research Associate at the University of California, Davis. Sophia Zahner: How did you become interested in the photography of Thérèse Bonney? How does it relate to your other research projects? Caroline …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Pillars of Democracy: Rebuilding America’s Trust in the Presidency

Posted by: John Haskell

For decades America’s civic and governmental institutions have lost the trust of the people, and sometimes even come under direct attack. Commentators offer various explanations for what has happened. Many point to a loss of faith in authority figures beginning with the Vietnam War and the corruption of Watergate, and the movement in the 1960s …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Watch Now to Learn About the Movements Shaping American Democracy

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

The John W. Kluge Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University are proud to release Social Movements and American Democracy in the 21st Century, a discussion moderated by Theda Skocpol and featuring panelists Hahrie Han, Dana Fisher, and Leah Wright Rigueur. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Our Common Purpose: The Complete Collection

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

In June 2020, the Kluge Center announced Danielle Allen as the winner of the Kluge Prize, launching the Our Common Purpose Campaign for Civic Strength at the Library of Congress. Allen hosted a series of exciting conversations at the Library to explore the nation’s civic life and ways that people from all political beliefs and …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Nahuatl Passion Plays in the Colonial Era: An Interview With Louise Burkhart

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

Louise M. Burkhart is Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Albany as well as Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas at the John W. Kluge Center. Andrew Breiner: Could you start by telling me a little about your background and …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Watch: Scientist Ainissa Ramirez on How Materials Shape Us

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

On April 22 the Kluge Center released a Kluge Book Conversation with materials scientist and writer Ainissa Ramirez, author of “The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another.” In it, Ramirez examines eight inventions that introduced major changes to the way people live. The Kluge Center’s Dan Turello interviewed Ramirez on her …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Why Reforming Electoral Institutions Might Be the Best Way to Change Policymaking

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

On April 15, the John W. Kluge Center held its second event in the Our Common Purpose Series with Kluge Prize winner Danielle Allen. How Political Institutions Shape Outcomes and How We Might Reform Them convened a panel of experts on the ways that electoral decision-making systems can encourage some outcomes over others. They also …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Our Common Purpose: Second Event Looks at Reforming Electoral Institutions

Posted by: John Haskell

At any point in time we might look at our political institutions – Congress, the presidency, the courts, elections, etc. – and see them as static, impervious to change in the larger social or cultural environment. In fact, that perception is wrong. Our political institutions evolve just as the larger culture does. As the nation’s …