Jay Pratt, Vice-Dean, Research & Infrastructure, Faculty of Arts & Science, today announced the appointment of Professor Margaret Kohn, as Acting Director of the Centre for Ethics effective July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.

Margaret (Peggy) Kohn is a professor of political theory at the University of Toronto. She received her BA in philosophy from Williams College and her MA and PhD in Government from Cornell University. Her main research interests are urbanism, critical theory, the history of political thought, and colonialism. Her current book project is entitled The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth. It examines displacement in cities (including gentrification, slum clearance, privatization of public space) from a critical and normative perspective.

Kohn’s first book Radical Space: Building the House of the People explored the political impact of the popular public sphere. It was awarded a prize for “Best Book: Honorable Mention” by the European Politics section of the American Political Science Association. She has also published scholarly articles in journals such as Political Theory, Journal of Politics, Theory & Event, Polity, Constellations, and Dissent.

Her second project examined contemporary public space. It analyzed the political consequences of the privatization of public space in North America. It argued that democratic values such as political speech and action are weakened by the privatization of public places like squares and streets where these activities were traditionally exercised. The resulting book – entitled Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space – was published by Routledge in the Spring of 2004.

Kohn has also written about postcolonial theory and empire. Her most recent book Political Theories of Decolonization (with Keally McBride) was published by Oxford University Press in 2011.

Please join me in welcoming Peggy Kohn as Acting Director of the Centre for Ethics. I am thrilled to be leaving the Centre is such capable and accomplished hands!

Simone Chambers
Professor of Political Science
Director, Centre for Ethics