The Chauvet cave painting above is among the first known art in the world. We think of it as the birth of culture and civil society. Humanity reflecting on its own practices. A history of civil society would, therefore, be a history of civilization.
The Institute is dedicated to the renewal of civil society. Its own contribution is made through its commitment to research and education. Our work is currently organized around various projects in public history, rural sustainability, and adult education.
“I have often thought how ridiculous it was that a nation, whose ancestors knew so well the value of liberty as to have maintained it with the last drop of their blood should be instrumental in enslaving a race of people whose only crime, if I judge right, is that the same Being which created them, for reasons beyond the capacity of mortals, made them black instead of white ...” Richard John Uniacke (1753-1830)
