Rhetoric and Composition Program Hosts "Risk, Responsibility and the Public Intellectual" with Dr. Stephen J. Parks

Although theories of risk are often associated with actuarial science and vulnerability, risk and responsibility are frequently partnered concepts in rhetorical studies of the public sphere, especially when those studies occur in, about, or around bordered spaces. In this talk, Dr. Stephen J. Parks presents his recent research on the re-envisioned public intellectual and how that re-envisioned role has informed the creation of the Democratic Futures Project (DFP), an alliance of academics, international advocates, and policy makers working in close to twenty nations, including Belarus, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Myanmar, the Philippines, the Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Through the creation of DFP classrooms, students work on projects that support the ethical re/envisioning of a stable public sphere. After interrogating risk and responsibility, and outlining the DFP’s core principles, Dr. Parks will encourage discussion and imagination of how the re-envisioned public intellectual might serve more local contexts.