In summer 2005 the DLCL Research Unit co-sponsored a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, led by Russell Berman (Stanford) and Julia Hell (University of Michigan). The topic was "Terror and Culture: Revisiting Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism."

Through readings and presentations of work in progress, participants investigated both totalitarianism as a cultural-historical phenomenon and Arendt's political-theoretical description of it. Their inquiries involved a series of dialogues between Arendt and her contemporaries Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger, as well as with current theorists critically engaged with Arendt's work, including Claude Lefort, Slavoj Zizek, and Giorgio Agamben. In addition, the group addressed the question of the standing of literature and aesthetic experience more broadly within the context of Arendt's model of citizenship.

Fifteen faculty members from colleges and universities around the country participated in the six-week seminar. The group met for six to nine hours every week, and discussions flowed into evenings and weekends and onto the Internet.

For more information about the seminar, please contact Russell Berman. To learn more about the Summer Seminar and Institute Program and other NEH grants, visit the NEH web site. For more information on the grant application process, contact Ann Gelder.