Invitation to Participate

Dear Colleague,

Thank you for your interest in the two-week Summer Institute, “The Continuing Significance of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America,” to be held June 18-29, 2007 at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

More information regarding housing, food, the faculty, required readings, and many additional details will be added to this site in coming weeks.

Sponsored by the National Association of Scholars and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the institute will bring together 25 participants under the direction of a superb faculty to deepen our understanding of Tocqueville’s insights into the cultural preconditions, foundations, and implications of American democracy.  This institute has been designated an NEH “We the People” project, whose aim is to strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. Our goal next June will be to enable college and university teachers to engage students in a profound encounter with Tocqueville’s text, with the ultimate purpose of deepening student understanding of the democracy in which they live.

Scope of the Institute

Over the last 20 years, commentators such as Robert Bellah, Robert Putnam, and others have become increasingly alarmed at the decline of American civic engagement. This engagement has been vital to America’s democratic culture.  We have simultaneously witnessed a resurgence of the public significance of religion, both in America and abroad, making it especially urgent that we improve our understanding of its relation to democracy.  Recent years have also seen continued uncertainty over the meaning of equality in America, whether over the issue of affirmative action or the power of the government to equalize the availability of social goods, such as health care and education.

It is no coincidence that these issues of have produced a rising tide of interest in Alexis de Tocqueville. His treatment of civic associations, religion, and equality (among many other topics) defies categorization. Thoughtful Americans of every ideological persuasion and every level of expertise look to his work to refine their questions and shape their analyses. 

This institute will focus on Democracy in America’s treatment of the American “social state,” as Tocqueville terms it.  “Social state,” which Tocqueville called his “point of departure,” will provide the overall framework for both weeks of the institute. During the first week, we will define the topic and look at its significance for equality, then focus on racial and gender equality. During the second week, the institute’s attention will shift to “social capital,” and examine two of its crucial components both in Tocqueville’s day and ours: religion and civic association. 

As Tocqueville describes it, “social state” seems to be both the cause and  effect of American laws, customs, and ideas.  The first presentations and discussions of the institute will examine Tocqueville’s characterization of the Anglo-American social state: its emphasis on equality; its unusual combination of the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom; and the Puritan heritage of emphasizing the rule of law, education, liberty, and the sovereignty of the people.  Then we will turn to the very different social state experienced by African Americans and American Indians.  We will examine Tocqueville’s analyses of majority opinion and American mores for insight into the way racial prejudice persists and even intensifies after the end of racially discriminatory laws. The first week concludes with Tocqueville’s remarkable analysis of relations between the sexes, in which he links sexual equality to the “regularity of American mores.”  American women marry only after a rational choice, he notes, as opposed to the marriages made for social advantage in aristocratic Europe.  The intellectual and moral equality of the sexes in America, however, is accompanied by social inequality between them, strict marital duties, and a careful division of roles.  

The second week will be framed by Robert Putnam’s writing on American “social capital,” which he describes as the networks, social trust, and norms that enable Americans to cooperate for their mutual benefit.  We will examine Tocqueville’s nuanced perspective on a major source of social capital—American religion.  We will examine its public significance in shaping mores, counteracting individualism, and drawing the citizenry beyond economic materialism, while yet remaining apart from political power.  Finally we will study Tocqueville’s analysis of how non-political, non-economic “associations” provide a healthy basis for American democracy and compare his analysis to recent thought on civic engagement.

Institute Faculty

The major faculty for the institute are Michael Zuckert (week one) and Peter Augustine Lawler (week two).  Professor Zuckert, Nancy R. Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, is the author or editor of twelve books, including Completing the Constitution: the Civil War Amendments (Forthcoming from University Press of Kansas).  His seminal essay “On Social State,” in a volume of Tocqueville studies edited by Peter Lawler, forms the intellectual core for this institute.  Prof. Zuckert has an uncanny ability to ask questions and frame arguments in a way that promotes insight in discussions.  Consultants Alvin Tillery (University of Notre Dame), will frame our discussion of Tocqueville and race, and Leslie Goldstein (University of Delaware) will guide our consideration of gender issues.

During the second week, we will be directed by Peter Augustine Lawler, Dana Professor of Government at Berry College (GA), who has written or edited four books on Tocqueville.  Professor Lawler has extensive scholarly experience in the issues for this week of the institute, and he too is known as an able teacher.  Consultants Aristide Tessitore (Furman University) will lend his expertise on Tocqueville and religion, and Alan Ehrenhalt (executive editor of Governing magazine) will add frame our discussion of the dynamics of social capital in American life.

I direct Bethel’s newly expanded Humanities Program, a four-course sequence of great books and works of art, where I teach Tocqueville. Since my scholarly field is in 18th-century British literature, I am approaching Tocqueville as a non-specialist. As Project Director, I will help guide small group discussions and attend to the logistics of the institute.

Format for the institute

The institute will consist of a combination of presentations by our six major faculty members; plenary discussions; and discussions in smaller groups of about twelve persons each.  These presentations and discussions will focus on the themes of social state, race, and gender (week one); social capital, religion, and civic associations (week two).  Reading material from Tocqueville and recent essays on the same topic will guide our discussion of Democracy in America’s continuing significance. The membership of the discussion groups will rotate during the institute.  Typically, we will have two sessions in the morning, with the afternoon devoted to individual research or other discussions, an off-site event, or time to explore the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

We have planned two off-campus lectures and tours in cooperation with the Minnesota Historical Society, which will enrich and interrogate Tocqueville’s analysis of the American West on (1) relations with the Indians and (2) the “extreme” democracy of the West, as Tocqueville described it.  These lectures will take place at Historic Fort Snelling and the Minnesota History Center.

Process for Application and Selection

Your completed application for the institute should be postmarked no later than March 9, 2007.  Applications will be read by the Project Director, a staff member from our sponsoring institution, and an external referee.  Our basis for selection will be: (1) relevance of the institute to the applicant’s teaching career; (2) the applicant’s academic background and interests. (3) two references; (4) a personal statement of what you hope to gain from this institute.  We will also factor in diversity of geographical location, institutional representation, and an appropriate balance of Tocqueville specialists, professors of history or political science, and non-specialists who teach Tocqueville in introductory courses in American history or culture. 

The application process has two parts:
1.    filling out and submitting an online “coversheet” to the NEH at http://www.neh.gov/online/education/participants.  Check “Summer Seminar or Institute.”  Be sure to click the “submit” button when you are finished.
2.    completing a paper application (in three copies), sent directly to me.

The paper application, sent to me in hard copy, should consist of three copies of items a, b, and c, below, along with two letters of reference (item d):
a.    a printed copy of the online coversheet that you submitted to NEH.
b.    A detailed resume, not to exceed five pages
c.    An application essay, as outlined below, not to exceed five pages.
d.    Two letters of reference.  These letters should be included with your application, with the referee’s signature signed across the envelope seal. If your referees cannot return their letters to you before the March 9 deadline, they should e-mail their recommendations directly to me, and send you the paper copies for forwarding to me by March 10 (postmark date). If you have participated in a previous NEH Institute or Seminar, a letter from your Project Director would be appreciated. 

Send applications to:

Daniel E. Ritchie, Director
The Humanities Program
Bethel University
3900 Bethel Dr.
St. Paul, MN 55112-6999
d-ritchie@bethel.edu
651-638-6133

The Application Essay

The most important part of your application is the essay that you submit. Include any personal and academic information that addresses the following points: your interest, both intellectual and personal, in the topic; the relation of the institute to your teaching or other responsibilities; what you hope to accomplish by participation; any other qualifications that relate to the subject of the institute.

Those selected to participate in the seminar will be notified by March 31, 2007. Please provide an address and telephone number if you will not be at home or be hard to reach at that time. You will have until April 15 to accept or decline the offer.

Bethel University and the Twin Cities

Except for our two lectures with the Minnesota Historical Society, the institute will take place at Bethel University, located in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.  Participants will find well-equipped, air-conditioned classrooms with current technology in a setting suitable for reflection.  Bethel’s library is linked to those of the many private colleges and universities in the Twin Cities, as well as the large research facilities at the University of Minnesota.  Bethel is hosting a dinner at the Minnesota History Center, in conjunction with an off-site lecture, and our sponsoring institution, the National Association of Scholars, will host the opening reception.

The Twin Cities are wonderful places to visit, especially in late June.  Gardens are at their height, the city parks are crowded with visitors, and a jazz festival is making music in Minneapolis venues.  Attractions such as the Guthrie Theatre (which opened its new facility in 2006), Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, the Mall of America, and the Minnesota Twins ballpark are all within a 25-minute drive of Bethel.

Stipends and Housing

Participants will receive a stipend of $1800 to help cover their expenses for the institute, an amount stipulated by the NEH for a two-week institute.  The first half of the stipend will be paid upon arrival, and the second half at the end of the institute.  Participants will also be allocated a $150 book allowance to cover the cost of the texts and Reading Packet for the institute.

Participants will be able to reserve single-bedroom accommodations with a living room and bathroom facilities in Bethel’s new Lissner Hall.  Participants may either share the living room and bathroom facilities with two other institute members (at a cost of about $25 per night, per individual) or not (at a cost of about $30 per night, per individual). Individual meals may be purchased at the Bethel Dining Center for a cost of no more than $25 per day for all three meals.

While two-week sublets will be difficult to find, excellent motel and dining facilities are readily available, both nearby Bethel’s campus and in the downtown areas. All participants are responsible for finalizing their housing arrangements and for making housing payments, whether they choose to stay at Bethel or off-campus. There is no public transportation to campus and no separate allowance for travel expenses during the conference.  Those seeking alternative housing should have a car. Motels within two miles may be found at  the Roseville Visitors Association.

More detailed information on housing and food will be available on this website as the institute approaches.  Bethel University prohibits the use of alcohol and tobacco products on campus.  For further questions, please contact me at d-ritchie@bethel.edu.

Sincerely,
Daniel E. Ritchie
Bethel University
d-ritchie@bethel.edu
651-638-6133