Kirby of philosophy faculty a leader for major international virtual conference

Professor Katie Kirby

From July 26 through July 29, Professor Katie Kirby of the Saint Michael’s philosophy faculty co-hosted an international philosophy conference, with the theme of “Solidarity and Community,” which she began organizing in early 2020 for the North American Levinas Society (NALS).

She was originally organizing the event to be in-person at Saint Michael’s College in July 2020, as host for the society’s 15^th annual conference. Keynote speakers, book panels, and individual paper presentations already had been selected and arranged when the COVID pandemic necessitated a change in plans.

Professor Kirby suggested to her colleagues on the NALS Board of Directors that they postpone the “Solidarity and Community” conference until 2021, and instead pivot to a new theme “The Face and the Interface: Levinas, Teaching, and Technology” – which was a great success.

As this year approached, it was clear that it was impossible for both domestic and international participants to travel, and based on the huge success of the 2020 remote conference, they decided to move forward remotely with the “Solidarity and Community” conference, with nearly all the previously arranged speakers and presenters. This year’s remote conference also was a huge success, Kirby said, “full of passionate and provocative discussion about what’s required for real community and solidarity, insightful and challenging philosophical discourse, joyful and friendly engagement, and a lot of laughter.”

With nearly 200 registrants, the conference took place over four days, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST each day, and featured 47 presenters from 13 countries (across the U.S. and Israel, France, South Africa, Philippines, Qatar, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Canada).  Highlights included two Keynote Addresses and a Book Panel. Professor Kirby had previous connections to the two Keynote speakers.

From Cape Town, South Africa, Helen Douglas delivered a Keynote Address titled, “‘The Housekeeper’s Tale’: International Solidarity in Apartheid South Africa.” Originally from Canada, Helen, a philosophical counselor in practice in Cape Town, spoke about her experience of being called to set up and maintain a safehouse for three years during Apartheid in Johannesburg, where she hosted members of the underground, including brave leaders of the resistance, such as Mac Maharaj.  Having met Douglas in 2010, Kirby arranged for students to study “The Housekeeper’s Tale” and meet with the author during the Academic Study Trip that she and Media Studies professor Traci Griffith co-led in 2019.  Douglas’s book on Levinas and just war is Love and Arms: Violence and Justification after Levinas (Trivium 2011).

From just across the Winooski River, Richard Sugarman, emeritus professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Vermont, delivered a Keynote Address titled, “On Generational Responsibility in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas,” which included discussion of his 2020 book, Levinas and the Torah: A Phenomenological Approach (SUNY Press).

Richard Sugarman

Kirby has known Sugarman since 2010, first collaborating with him in bringing the respected UVM scholar to Saint Michael’s for the annual Rabbi Max B. Wall lecture in spring 2011.  Professors Kirby and Sugarman worked together to brainstorm and shape the “Solidarity and Community” theme for this NALS conference, to align with Vermont, the mission of Saint Michael’s College, and Sugarman’s recent work and book publication.  Sugarman’s long-time friend, Roger Duncan, will be one of the conference Keynote speakers in 2022.

The conference Book Panel featured Annabel Herzog, professor of political philosophy at the School of Political Science, and the chair of the M.A. Degree in Cultural Studies, at the University of Haifa, in Israel.  She discussed her 2020 book, Levinas’s Politics: Justice, Mercy, Universality (University of Pennsylvania Press) with panelists Deborah Achtenberg, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Martin Shuster, associate professor of philosophy at Goucher College.

Annabel Herzog

In addition to these featured events, panel presentations focused on topics such as solidarity and service, social justice, the meaning of community, Talmudic teaching, Judaism and Catholic social teaching, human rights, non-violence and resistance, restorative justice, equity, environmental responsibility, generational solidarity, immigration, racial equity, gender and sexuality, and more.

Kirby delivered a paper, as well, accepted by blind review – “Toward the Migrant: The Scandal of Indifference and the Possibility of Care.”

The conference drew on the teaching and writing of the Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar, Emmanuel Levinas, to explore the meaning of community and what it means to live in solidarity with one another. Levinas survived imprisonment in a camp during World War II, while his wife and daughter were hidden in a monastery, and many of his family and loved ones were murdered by the Nazi regime.

Kirby said that NALS is tremendously fortunate to have Levinas’ daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and granddaughter-in-law (Simone, Georges, David, and Joëlle Hansel) as members of the Board of Directors and organizers, presenters, and active participants at all annual conferences and meetings.  Kirby has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2013 and was elected in 2020 to serve as Executive Secretary of the North American Levinas Society. She is planning to host the 17^th annual NALS conference in-person at Saint Michael’s College in the summer of 2022.

Kirby co-organized and co-hosted this 2021 remote conference with fellow NALS Board members: Erik Garrett (NALS President); David Hansel; Timothy Stock; Leah Kalmanson (NALS Treasurer); Brian Bergen-Aurand; and Jesse Sims. She offered special acknowledgement and gratitude to David Hansel, for his expertise in arranging and managing all the videoconferencing tech, making both the 2020 and 2021 remote conferences possible.)