The Ethics of Now is a series of conversations between Duke historian Adriane Lentz-Smith and a range of artists, advocates, and authors whose works explore the moral challenges of our time.
Presented in downtown Durham venues, the Ethics of Now features thought-provoking conversations between host Adriane Lentz-Smith and a guest speaker. Audience members have the opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A.
Free and open to the public, these fast-paced programs typically run one hour long, with a reception and a book signing following. They are intended to be entertaining and engaging — while offering substantial food for thought.
Browse upcoming and past Ethics of Now programs below.
Upcoming Events
2024–2025 Series
Tracie Canada and Hanif Abdurraqib on Race, Exploitation, and Hope in Sports
April 24, 2025 @7PM
Durham Arts Council
Sports are about way more than just play. Join host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with sports anthropologist Tracie Canada and award-winning author and MacArthur Fellow Hanif Abdurraqib to find out how looking at our country through the lens of sports can reveal things we might not otherwise see.
Damon Tweedy and Jeffrey Baker on Race, Memory, and What Local History Can Teach Us
March 4, 2025 @7PM
Hayti Heritage Center
Join host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with Jeffrey Baker and Damon Tweedy on race, memory, and what local history can teach us — as embodied in a story from Duke Hospital that still reverberates today.
Rev. Dr. William Barber II on Creating a Moral Fusion Movement that Unites Across Division
November 8, 2024 @7PM
Hayti Heritage Center
Join host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with Rev. Dr. Barber about countering the politics of rage with a moral policy that prioritizes love, truth, and strategically reaching for higher ground.
Raj Patel on Solving Hunger, Climate Change, Racism, and Poverty
September 13, 2024 @7PM
Durham County Main Library
With clarity and insight, author and filmmaker Raj Patel links questions of sustainability to those of justice and political economy. Patel guides us in meeting crisis with joy and purpose, and he compels us to work to save each other and ourselves.
Recent Events
2023–2024 Series
Jonathan Metzl on Why So Many Americans Support Policies that Harm Them
March 1, 2024 @7PM
Durham Arts Council
An acclaimed physician and professor of psychiatry and sociology, Jonathan Metzl’s work pushes us to question what true health means, why so many have worked against it, and how we might work together to promote it — for everyone.
Deesha Philyaw on Black Women’s Lives, Loves, and Labors
February 2, 2024 @7PM
Hayti Heritage Center
Deesha Philyaw, award-winning author of “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” dares to explore the intimacies of Black women’s lives that are otherwise left at the church door.
Tommie Shelby on The Case for Prison Abolition and The Difficult Questions it Raises
November 17, 2023 @7PM
Durham Arts Council
Author of The Idea of Prison Abolition Tommie Shelby pushes us to engage hard questions of crime, punishment, justice, and culpability — and invites us to consider morally infused responses to unjust social structures with the same sympathy and analytical rigor that drives him.
adrienne maree brown on Justice and Imagination
October 6, 2023 @6PM
Durham County Main Library
Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E Butler scholarship, and her work as a doula, author adrienne maree brown nurtures imagination as an activity of and way towards justice.
2022–2023 Series
Kim TallBear on “Being in Good Relation”
April 21, 2023 @7PM
Durham Arts Council
Author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science and The Critical Polyamorist blog, Kim TallBear thinks deeply and creatively about how to “be in good relation,” whether in how we name our identities or in how we love each other.
Angela Garbes on Radicalism, Justice, and Mothering
January 27, 2023 @7PM
Durham Arts Council
Author of Essential Labor and Like a Mother Angela Garbes takes us beyond platitudes to talk about mothering as work—work that is power-bound but also lifted up by radical hope.
Food as Care with Ricky Moore
November 7, 2022 @ 7PM
Durham Arts Council
James Beard Award–winning local chef Ricky Moore serves up North Carolina seafood prepared with creativity and heart. His cooking honors coastal Carolina traditions, showing us how sustainable cuisine is care for our communities and our planet.
What’s So Funny about the Quest for Moral Perfection? with Michael Schur
October 14, 2022 @ 7PM
Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University
The creative force behind shows like “Parks and Recreation” and “The Good Place,” Mike Schur’s book offers the funniest Moral Reasoning 101 class you’ll likely ever take.
2021–2022 Series
April 8, 2022 @ 7PM A conversation between Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith and the award-winning author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko Min Jin Lee on “Family, Community, and the Bonds That Make Us.”
Family, Community, and the Bonds That Make Us with Min Jin Lee
Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC
Struggle, Trauma, Memory, and the Power of the Fictions We Weave
January 20, 2022 @ 7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed Viet Thanh Nguyen on “Struggle, Trauma, Memory, and the Power of the Fictions We Weave.”
A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America
November 15, 2021 @ 7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith and author of How the Word is Passed Clint Smith on “A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America.”
Music is History
November 8, 2021 @ 8:00PM
A conversation between Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith and Drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, best-selling author, and member of The Roots, Questlove on his new book, Music is History.
The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School
October 14, 2021 @ 7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith and co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door Jennifer Berkshire on “The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School.”
Watch the video
Spring 2021 Series
Human Realities of the Border and Empathy
February 18, 2021@7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Lentz-Smith and Former US Border Patrol Agent and author of “The Line Becomes a River” Francisco Cantú on “Human Realities of the Border and Empathy.”
Race, Family, and Identity with Brit Bennett
March 18, 2021 @ 7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Lentz-Smith and award-winning author of “The Mothers” and “The Vanishing Half” Brit Bennett on Race, Family, and Identity.
Race and Racism in America with Isabel Wilkerson
April 5, 2021@7:30PM
A conversation between Professor Lentz-Smith and Pulitzer Prize winning Author of “Caste” Isabel Wilkerson on Race and Racism in America.
Katz Women, Ethics, and Leadership Lecture
Environment, Technology and the Human Condition with Elizabeth Kolbert
May 6, 2021 @ 7:30PM
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker journalist and author of “Under a White Sky” Elizabeth Kolbert for a conversation on Environment, Technology, and the Human Condition.
The U.S. Economy and the Cost of Racism with Heather McGheeMay 20, 2021 @ 7:30PM
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Heather McGhee, author of New York Times Bestseller “The Sum of Us,” for a conversation on the US economy and the cost of racism.
Spring 2020 Series
In spring 2020, The Ethics of Now became “The Ethics of Now from Home.” The program remained virtual until the spring 2022.
Living in a Wounded World
June 25, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and and Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology Norman Wirzba for a conversation on environmental care, “Living in a Wounded World.”
Opportunities and Inequities: Education in a Pandemic
June 18, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Professor of the Practice of Education David Malone with Jordan High School teacher Brian McDonald and undergraduate B.N. Duke Scholar Bethlehem Ferede for the conversation, “Opportunities and Inequities: Education in a Pandemic.”
Well-Being for Children and Families during COVID-19
June 11, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and WLF Bass Connections Associate Professor in Public Policy Anna Gassman-Pines for the conversation “Well-Being for Children and Families during COVID-19.”
Racism, Police Violence, and Protests
June 5, 2020
In this special lunch-hour conversation, join Professor Lentz-Smith and the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy William A. (“Sandy”) Darity as they discuss the national response to George Floyd’s murder, protests and riots, police violence, and where the nation might go from here.
Pandemics Past and Present: Situating COVID-19 in History
June 4, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine Jeffrey Baker, M.D. for the conversation, “Pandemics Past and Present: Situating COVID-19 in History.”
In Defense of Terrible Television
May 28, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies Mark Anthony Neal for the conversation “In Defense of Terrible Television.”
Care in the Era of COVID-19
May 21, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and the Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies Jocelyn Olcott for the conversation “Care in the Era of COVID-19.”
Shifting Foundations: Values and Cultural Changes During and After a Pandemic
May 14, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Professor of Sociology Stephen Vaisey for the conversation “Shifting Foundations: Values and Cultural Changes During and After a Pandemic.”
Silent Stadiums: is life as meaningful in a world without spectator sports? What should we risk to get them back?
May 7, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and the Mike and Ruth Mackowski Professor of Ethics Wayne Norman for the conversation “Silent Stadiums: is life as meaningful in a world without spectator sports? What should we risk to get them back?”
Who Gets the Ventilator? and other Ethical Challenges from COVID-19
April 30, 2020
Join Professor Lentz-Smith and Stillman Professor of Ethics Walter Sinnott-Armstrong for a conversation about “Who Gets the Ventilator? and other ethical challenges from COVID-19”.
Privacy versus Public Health in a Pandemic: What are the Ethical Tradeoffs?
April 23, 2020
Professor Lentz-Smith and Washington and Lee law and cyber ethics expert, Margaret Hu had a conversation about the ethical challenges of privacy during a pandemic: “Privacy versus Public Health in a Pandemic: What are the ethical tradeoffs?”
2019–2020 Series
Read more about 2019–2020 programs here.
2018–2019 Series
Read more about 2018–2019 programs here.
