Global Religion and the Making of Morality Systems

What does it mean to live an ethical life? Is the answer to this question the same for Christian and Muslim communities around the world?

Webb Keane will tackle these enduring yet timely questions when he visits Grinnell on November 1 to deliver his talk, “Global Religion and the Making of Morality Systems.”

Keane will draw from his interdisciplinary book Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories, in which he explores scientific and humanistic explanations for the ethical lives of humans.

Keane is the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. An anthropologist and artist, Keane's work spans genres and geographies, engaging questions that span cultural settings and disciplinary boundaries.

He is author of numerous books and articles in linguistic and cultural anthropology and, most recently, on the nature of ethics. He is the recipient of fellowships from a variety of prestigious sources, including the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Keane's visit is sponsored by the Center for the Humanities.

Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations, 641-269-3235.