Media Releases

Civic engagement expert to lecture at OISE

February 19, 2014

TORONTO, ON – Pro­fes­sor Joseph Kahne, research direc­tor of the Civic Engage­ment Group at Mills Col­lege, CA will give a talk on Redesign­ing civic edu­ca­tion for the dig­i­tal age: Youth and par­tic­i­pa­to­ry pol­i­tics at OISE on Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 24.

What does par­tic­i­pa­to­ry democ­ra­cy look like for youth today? Amid wide­spread pub­lic con­cern about dys­func­tion­al polit­i­cal sys­tems, youth have tuned out of tra­di­tion­al pol­i­tics-as-usu­al – con­flict dri­ven debates, inter­est groups and elites, and are dis­en­gaged. It is clear that civic and polit­i­cal life has changed in the dig­i­tal age. If we hope to rein­vig­o­rate demo­c­ra­t­ic life and re-engage our youth, we must break free from out­mod­ed prac­tices and civic edu­ca­tion must change.

Pro­fes­sor Kahne argues that the expand­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties (and chal­lenges) asso­ci­at­ed with demo­c­ra­t­ic life in the dig­i­tal age require a con­ver­sa­tion about the redesign of civic edu­ca­tion, based on analy­sis of a nation­al­ly rep­re­sen­ta­tive sur­vey of youth polit­i­cal engage­ment and on qual­i­ta­tive case stud­ies con­duct­ed by schol­ars involved in the MacArthur Foun­da­tion Youth and Par­tic­i­pa­to­ry Pol­i­tics Research Net­work.

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT: Pro­fes­sor Joseph Kahne, research direc­tor of the Civic Engage­ment Group at Mills Col­lege, CA to lec­ture on youth and civic engage­ment in the dig­i­tal age.

WHEN: Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 24, 2014. Lec­ture begins at 5:30 and ends at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Ontario Insti­tute for Stud­ies in Edu­ca­tion, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, 252 Bloor Street West, Nexus Lounge, 12th floor South (St. George Sub­way).

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Pro­fes­sor Megan Bol­er
megan.boler@utoronto.ca

OISE Media Rela­tions
Tel: 416–978-1123
oise.communications@utoronto.ca