Front Porch Republic

FPR turns 10 years old this year. To mark the occasion, we’ll be gathering on September 14, 2019 at the University of Louisville to discuss Wendell Berry’s vision and legacy. We’ll also be handing out copies of the inaugural issue of Local Culture: A Journal of the Front Porch Republic.

Please register to attend and join us for what promises to be a rich day.

9:00 Welcome, Gary Gregg, Director of the McConnell Center

9:15-10:45 Community

• Jake Meador, Community in an Orphaned World: Belonging in a Time of Rootlessness
• Eric Miller, Creating a Current: Wendell Berry and the Fellowship of the Word
• Jeff Bilbro, Convocation: Burley Coulter and the Membership

11:00-12:30 Farms and Households

• Susannah Black, Front Porch and Empire: Political Authority and the Blessings, and Limits, of Limits
• Gracy Olmstead, “It Takes a Village”: Why the Nuclear Family Is Insufficient for Agricultural Sustainability
• Jason Peters, “Who Started the Fight?”: The Farm and the Language of Particularity

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:00 Wendell and Mary Berry in Conversation

• Wendell Berry and Mary Berry

3:15-4:30 Empire and Law

• Caleb Stegall, Obedience to the Unenforceable: Is Port William Lawless?
• Bill Kauffman, “Where Have They Gone?” Wendell Berry on War and Peace

Concluding Remarks, Mark Mitchell, FPR President

The Seelbach Hilton in Louisville has reserved a block of rooms for FPR attendees. You can book one of these here. There are of course many other nearby hotels (as well as rooms on Airbnb and Vrbo).

The conference will take place on the campus of the University of Louisville (Belknap Campus, 2100 S. Floyd Street) on the second floor of the Student Activities Center. 

Thanks to Plough Quarterly for co-sponsoring this conference with FPR.