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Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico

The City: Classical Roots and Contemporary Realities

Nov. 1-2, 2018

University of Dallas

Cardinal Farrell Hall - Catholic Foundation Board Room, Second Floor

FOR THE first time in history, cities today contain the majority of the earth’s human population. Opportunities and commodities now considered necessary for a fulfilling human life increasingly depend on residence in a major city. Much of cities’ drawing power subsists in their ability to offer a more unconstrained life, possibilities for growth and creativity, and freedom for self-realization. 

THESE PROMISES, however, often prove illusory even to those who win success, for they are promises made to individuals as individuals. The premise of the city, however, is that human nature is realized more fully in community with others. How may a good life be envisioned for today’s city dwellers as a community? And how should cities be conceived of in order to encourage that good life?

Topics to Be Explored

  • Conviviality: An Ideal for the City
  • The Public Virtues
  • The Need for Openness
  • The City’s Relation to the Region
  • The City’s Relation to Nature
  • The City’s Effect on Mind and Soul
  • The City and Beauty
  • The City and Technology

This fourth annual joint endeavor between the University of Dallas Braniff Graduate School and the  Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) continues their mission to explore and expand the reach of the classic humanities more broadly, across national borders and across disciplines.

Conference Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 1

Time Event
10 a.m. - Noon 

Panel 1:  The City as Center in Latin American History.

Mark Petersen, Assistant Professor of History, University of Dallas
Openness or Autarky? A Crucial Debate in the Development of Latin American Cities

Víctor Villavicencio, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
One City and Two Sieges: The Mexican Capital during the American Occupation (1847) and the French Occupation (1863)

Valeria Zepeda, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
Mexico City under Fire: The Ten Tragic Days (1913)

Noon - 1:30 p.m

Lunch: Mexican-U.S. Realities. (Special event for colloquium participants only)

Carlos McCadden, Dean, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
The Depth of the Relation between Mexican and American Cities

1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Panel 2: From Literary Realities to Classical Roots

Nefer Muñoz-Solano, Assistant Professor of Spanish, University of Dallas
Cities and Favelas: The Case of Lima Barreto

Matthew Post, Assistant Proffesor of Humanities, University of Dallas
Aristotle and Cicero on the Good City

José Pantaleón Dominguez, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
The Metamorphosis of God according to Etienne Gilson: The City as a Metaphor of Universal Fraternity

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Break
4 - 5:30 p.m.

Panel 3:  Ethics in the City

Alejandro Ordieres, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
The City as a Dwelling: The Significance of Ethics in the Construction of Cities

José Manuel Orozco, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
City and Virtue: The Sick City in the Age of Social Fracture (A View of the Late Modern City)

6 p.m.

Dinner (Special event for colloquium participants only)

Friday, Nov. 2

 

Time Event
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Panel 4:  Aesthetics and Poetics of the City

Juan Carlos Mansur, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico
The Entitlement to Beauty in Cities

Bainard Cowan, Louise Cowan Chair, University of Dallas
Rooted but Invisible: The City of Tradition and Imagination in the Americas

Robert Scott Dupree, University of Dallas
The City as Will and Representation

11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Lunch (Special event for colloquium participants only)
1 - 2 p.m.

Final Session: The Nurture of Soul in the City

Gail Thomas, Director, Center for the City, Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture; Former CEO, Trinity Trust
Recapturing the Soul of the City

Conference Organizers

Joshua Parens, Ph.D., Dean, Braniff Graduate School

Bainard Cowan, Ph.D., Cowan Chair in Literature