Living/Learning Community
The Kenan LLC is an intentionally designed residential community for students interested in conversations, practices, experiments, and group and personal reflections that address the problem of ethical living in contemporary society.
Theme
This year’s theme is Ethics & Alienation: Establishing Connection Amidst Disconnection.
The food we eat is grown and prepared by people we likely will never meet. The goods we buy are assembled mysteriously across global assembly lines. Our personhood is shaped by the pressures of a competitive job market. And even the seasons of our circadian rhythms are treated as things to be conquered or ignored.
Ordinary disconnections such as these abound within our daily lives. We are alienated from the people whose labors reproduce our lives. We are separated from a sense of our belongingness to the natural world. We are denied the uncategorizable richness of our own multiplicity. We are distracted from the realities of how our wealth is built. We are disillusioned of the feasibility of the better worlds we might dare to dream. These and other alienations are the ground upon which we are asked to ethically act in the technologically advanced world we live.
As a thought experiment, might we ask: What ethics follow from a foundation of disconnection? How does disconnection feel? How does disconnection think? By contrast, we might also ask, what ethics follow from the experience of connection? How does connection feel? How might connection think?
LIVING
Students live together on the second floor of Few HH in the heart of Duke University’s West Campus. The LLC organizes a variety of low-pressure, social and intellectual opportunities (dinners, outings, game nights, etc.) to intentionally build a sense of community around questions of living ethically individually, collectively, and as part of a larger community beyond Duke. The use of common spaces for gathering in the dorm is encouraged; common spaces in Few include the Few HH Second Floor common room, the nearby Few Tower in House GG, and an outdoor courtyard space with seating.
LEARNING
ETHICS 211
Ethics & Alienation: Establishing Connection Amidst Disconnection
Instructor: Hayes
This Fall 2026 course is limited to students in the Kenan LLC and is required for incoming members.
Ethics 211 is a collaborative course, co-led by Kenan LLC Faculty Director Shannan Hayes and Kenan LLC students. About a third of the class sessions will be led by Hayes and about two thirds will be led by the students.
Hayes will provide foundational content to help anchor the course’s theme. Topics connected to the theme may include readings on care ethics, ecology, the concept of alienation, and critical analysis of contemporary work society.
On the first day of class, Kenan LLC students will build out the syllabus, adding the contemporary ethical challenges they’re interested in.
Student-led sessions will offer students the opportunity to propose pressing topics and build stronger relations of trust amongst the group. In this way, the class will attempt to both think about and practice the project of building connection amidst disconnections of various kinds.
Student participants will have ample room to contribute their own ethical interests and concerns through curated readings and student-led discussion.
COMMUNITY
There are many opportunities for students in the Experiments in Ethical Living LLC to contribute to building community, such as joining our Social, Recruitment, and Trip-Planning Committees. The LLC hosts a variety of social events throughout the school year, including examples such as our annual “Open Door Day” following move-in, a daytrip to the Eno River for swimming and canoeing, and a Halloween-themed cookie cake decorating contest. As the LLC continues to grow and develop, we’re committed to continuing to center community-building through both on-campus events and intentional service engagements throughout Durham.
ANNUAL TRIP
The LLC offers an annual trip to its members, usually taking place over Winter Break before the start of the spring semester. Recent destinations include Puerto Rico, New York City, and Miami. This year’s trip will align with the theme of cultivating skills & awareness around practices of social reproduction and ethical living.
CONTACT
Have a question about the LLC? Contact us at KenanLLC@duke.edu!
Keep up with LLC members by following @dukekenanllc on Instagram!
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