Arendt's Pedagogy: How Berkeley Remade the Political Theorist in 1955

In 1955, Hannah Arendt held her first visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley. Not only did it provide her with economic security, but it also enabled her to experience firsthand the rapidly changing educational landscape in Cold War America. How did this academic appointment reshape her thinking after the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism? What was her transition like from the German university system to a university on the west coast of the American Republic? The aim of this lecture is to investigate Arendt's pedagogy based on heretofore unexamined archival materials. It also invites a critical conversation about liberal education in our contemporary world.

Monday, April 20, 2026

4:30pm-6:30pm

Haldeman 041*

Free and Open to the Public

*Location may be subject to change

David D. Kim is Professor in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies and Associate Vice Provost at the International Institute at UCLA. He is the author of Arendt's Solidarity: Anti-Semitism and Racism in the Atlantic World (Stanford University Press, 2024) and Cosmopolitan Parables: Trauma and Responsibility in Contemporary Germany (Northwestern University Press, 2017).

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