Higher Ed
Fife Fellows Mini-Conference
James Madison College at Michigan State University will host the Fife Fellows Mini-Conference, an event combining elements of a colloquium and a research workshop. Students will be able to engage both with original writings from Enlightenment thinkers and with scholars doing research on the political theory which formed the intellectual basis of the American Founding.
The event combines elements of a Liberty Fund-style colloquium and a research workshop, including both the Fife Fellows, LeFrak Fellows, and invited scholars working on the political theory of eighteenth-century thinkers contemporaneous with the American Founding.
The event consists of four sessions over the course of a single day. Two of the sessions are devoted to reading original sources from the American, Scottish, and English Enlightenments, some being related to the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.
The other two sessions serve as research workshops for four invited scholars working on this period, with two scholars presenting in each session. This structure not only aids the scholars who are working on this period, but also enables students to better see what the research process looks like and be active participants in giving the scholars feedback and hearing their insights on their projects. In short, students are able be able to engage both with original writings from Enlightenment thinkers and with scholars doing research on the political theory which formed the intellectual basis of the American Founding.