Join us on the 4th Thursday of each month from 5-6pm for the IWFC Calgary Chapter EDI Book Club.
The next selection for IWFC Calgary's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Book Club will be Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment by Francis Fukuyama and will be hosted by Bev Foy.
"In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to "the people," who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole.
Demand for recognition of one's identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious "identity liberalism" of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism.
Populist nationalism, said to be rooted in economic motivation, actually springs from the demand for recognition and therefore cannot simply be satisfied by economic means. The demand for identity cannot be transcended; we must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy."
Please RSVP to confirm your attendance.
May 23, 2024 - 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85009782945
You may purchase a hard or digital copy here or support your local bookstore or public library.
Meetings:
- October 26 Permanent Astonishment: Growing Up Cree in the Land of Snow and Sky by Tomson Highway (host Bev Foy)
- November 23 The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkelby Kati Marton.(host Bev Foy)
- January 25 Everybody Matters by Mary Robinson(host Jennifer Hatfield)
- February 22 Saltus by Tara Gereaux (host Karen Prentice)
- March 28 May Name is Not Harry byHaroon Siddiqui(host Michele Stanners)
- April 25 TBD (host TBD)
- May 23 Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment byFrancis Fukuyama(host Bev Foy)
- June 27 Knife by Salman Rushdi(host Aritha van Herk)
