|
2008 Program
June
21-August 24, 2008
|
 2008 Calendar of Events >
2008
Grid Calendar (updated)
|
The 2008 Chautauqua
Institution season is made possible in part with public funds
from the New York State Council on the Arts. |
• Group Tickets email or call 716.357.6262
• Group Accommodations
and Conferencing
email or call 716.357.6248 |
 |
• Week 1 June
21-28
Sport
in America
Roger
Goodell, long-time Chautauquan and commissioner of the National
Football League, will be among the featured lecturers in Week
One. Sport looms large in the American culture, whether from
an economic perspective or through the lens of its impact on
our lifestyles and customs. Fun, competitive, entertaining? Yes.
But big business too. Some estimates tag the sports business
industry in the U.S. at over $300 billion annually. From youth
and amateur athletics to college sports to the pros, we will
examine the economics and the impact of sports on our cities,
our youth, education, and culture. We will look at Title 9, the
influence of television and escalating salaries, and the future
of Olympic sports. And we will explore whether the interest of
the general fan has been eclipsed by big money.
• Week 2 June
29 - July 5
Restoring
Legitimacy to our Election System
Most
Americans are both proud and grateful to live in a free and democratic
country. But many are growing disenchanted with our system of
electing a president. Are these concerns valid? If so, how do
we go about restoring integrity into our election system? This
week we'll look at some of the basic mechanisms that impact our
political system and how they might be improved, including campaign
finance, timing and duration of primaries, voter registration,
the popular vote vs. the Electoral College and how we encourage
or discourage citizen participation. Norman Ornstein, a resident
scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and co-director
of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, will be with us
during this week as both a presenter and facilitator.
• Week 3 July
6-12
Roger
Rosenblatt and Friends: On Writing
Essayist,
author, playwright and television commentator Roger Rosenblatt
has lectured nine times from Chautauqua Institution's Amphitheater
platform. For this week on writing, Roger will be joined by his
friends and fellow authors E.L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates,
and Amy Tan, and poet Billy Collins and cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
• Week 4 July
13-19
The
Ethical Frontiers of Science
There
are no shortages of ethical dilemmas arising from rapid advances
in biomedical sciences and new discoveries about how the mind
works. What are the prospects that new drugs and genetic discoveries
will enable us to improve our memories, moods, and cognitive
abilities? Should science aim only at treating disease or also
at enhancing our mental and physical capacities, and those of
our children? Is there a risk that new genetic technologies will
lead to the quest for "designer children?" Are we on
the verge of discovering a biological basis for morality, and
if so, does this pose a threat to familiar notions of free will
and moral responsibility? This week, Harvard professor Michael
Sandel will help us explore the growing public debate at the
intersection of ethics, biotechnology, and public policy. We'll
hear from bioethics experts and scientists to help us think through
the social and ethical implications of biological and biomedical
advances.
• Week 5 July
20-26
American
Foreign Policy: Leadership and Dialogue
Since
1945, the United States has constructed its foreign policy around
the fault lines of the demise of British colonialism, the contest
with Communism and most recently the confrontation with terrorism.
We will consider those historic roots and their influence on
the current play of American interests on such issues as access
to energy, markets, human rights and issues of military security.
We will hear voices from other countries expressing their perspectives
on U.S. foreign policy, and we will engage in dialogue about
the prospects for the future.
• Week 6 July
27-August 2
underwritten in part
by the Ford Foundation
Healing
the Globe
In this
Global Village, the health of one affects the health of all.
In partnership with the Global Health Council, we will examine
such twenty-first century challenges as maternal and child health,
AIDS, TB, malaria, diseases related to global warming, the consequences
of natural disasters, and response mechanisms to famine and pandemics.
We will bring to the platform powerful voices who have invested
themselves and their resources in this struggle for a healthy
world.
• Week 7 August
3-9
Faith
in Public Life
The
United States is one of the most religiously plural nations in
the world. The Abrahamic religions differ widely within and among
their respective traditions, especially with regard to whether
religion is solely a private matter or has a role to play in
public life. In this year of national elections, the compelling
questions become: How best are different religious perspectives
expressed in the give and take of democracy, and what is the
responsibility of people of faith in a democracy?
• Week 8 August
10-16
What's
For Dinner: Food and Politics in the 21st Century
Food
- from the old family recipe to the culinary arts - consumes
a central role in our lives and is our most intimate and direct
connection to nature. It elicits both passion and guilt, it comforts
and satisfies, it sustains the body and is a source of beauty
and art. What we eat and how it arrives in our kitchens and restaurants
is also influenced by political and economic decisions. From
the 100-mile diet, five-star restaurants and peppy television
chefs to giant agri-business, this week will add context to our
understanding of how food is produced, biologically altered and
distributed, the rise of organic agriculture and the simple joys
of eating.
• Week 9 August
17-23
Darwin
and Linnaeus: Their Impact on Our View of the Natural World
2009 will mark the
celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday as well as the 150th anniversary
of the publication of On the Origin of Species. The public debate
surrounding his theory of evolution seems to have diminished
little in that span of time. This week we will focus on all that
has followed, including the scientific, social, religious and
legal ramifications of Darwin's work. In addition, this year
marks the 250th anniversary of the 1758 publication of Swedish
scientist Carl Linnaeus' system for giving Latin names to animals,
indeed, cataloging the natural world. We will consider the legacy
of that important work as well. |
