December 5-6, 2009 New School for General Studies
New York City, New York

“A new era for politics is struck; a new method of thinking has arisen.” So proclaimed Thomas Paine in 1776, making the case for American independence. But Paine did not stop there. For the next forty-some years until his death in 1809, he continued to sound the call for change on both sides of the Atlantic: the eradication of hereditary government and privilege. Enfranchisement for the common man. The abolition of slavery. Freedom from organized religion. A fledgling plan for a welfare state through progressive taxation. An end to barbaric punishments. And, not least, an end to unnecessary wars.

Fast forward two hundred years, from “We have it in our power to begin the world over again” to “Yes we can.” The old adage—the more things change, the more they stay the same—certainly applies to 21st-century America in numerous ways as we face comparable challenges in spite of the ostensible changes in terms, names, and places. It is little wonder then that Paine’s emphasis on change continues to reverberate in our nation—and that Barack Obama would tap into this spirit by citing lines from Paine’s first AMERICAN CRISIS paper in his inaugural speech. But even today, with “change” on the national agenda, we are still left with far too much of what Paine identified in RIGHTS OF MAN as the “curious phenomenon of a nation looking one way, and a government the other—the one forward and the other backward.” The fundamental disconnect that Paine discerned between the government and the people is one that might be just as easily discerned in the present political and social climate. Now, as then, the issue of separation between church and state remains no less vexed, especially with the increased blurring of boundaries from the 1980s. Now, as then, the concern of the heightened disparities between the haves and have-nots remains no less stark. And finally, now as then, two centuries after the creation of a “political left” and “right,” the issues of debate and dissent remain as relevant as it did in the 1790s when conservatives and radicals engaged in heated debates on the French Revolution.

As such, this symposium will address the relevance of Thomas Paine to America in the 21st century and the means of preserving his legacy. Possible topics might include:

PAINE AND RELIGION: Declaring that “My mind is my own church” in THE AGE OF REASON, Paine explained that “All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” How did Paine and his contemporaries approach the problems associated with organized religion and its role in government—and how did their analyses square with eighteenth-century realities? To what extent have we inherited these issues?

PAINE AND POVERTY: In RIGHTS OF MAN, Paine famously observed “When it shall be said in any country in the world, ‘My poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive’….then may that country boast of its constitution and its government.” how did Paine address the inequality of wealth—and how does it speak to our problems today with the excesses of executive and professional compensation? What would he have to say about urban and rural poverty? What solutions do Paine and his contemporary progressives offer us? To what extent do the ideas and rhetoric of present-day thinkers square with Paine’s?

PAINE AND THE BACKLASH AGAINST PROGRESS. Paine and others who shared his ideals were branded as dangerous “Jacobins,” i.e., radical supporters of the French Revolution. In reaction, moderate reformers sought to distance themselves from Paineite radicals. What lessons can Paine’s experiences back in 18th- and 19th-century Britain and America teach us in a nation of “blue” and “red”?

PAINE AND POPULISM: how did Paine shape the fledgling forms of political journalism, commentary—and propaganda? What were his goals then—and to what extent has that changed today? How have the left and right alike endeavored to co-opt Paineite populism for their respective ends? How are they being shaped by new approaches and advances in cyberspace?

PAINE IN THE CLASSROOM: how can the works of Paine be taught in a way that fully engages students, from elementary school through college?

REPRESENTATIONS OF PAINE (OR LACK THEREOF) IN FICTION AND FILM: how has Paine been portrayed by novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters? What do these depictions indicate about the times in which they were created?

Please submit your abstract (no more than 500 words) and a brief c.v., by May 11, 2009 to Dr. Frances Chiu at chiuf@newschool.edu .

Dr. Frances Chiu
Dept. of Social Sciences
The New School for General Studies
66 W. 12th St. Rm. 901
N.Y., N.Y., 10011