Keynote Speaker is Dr. Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Sleepy Citizenship: The Biopolitics of Rest in American Democracy

Sleep inequality is a persistent problem in the United States. Over a third of American adults do not get sufficient sleep and that proportion is higher among members of marginalized groups. We argue that this disparity is consequential for the health of our democracy because sleep is an essential resource in political life akin to money, time, and civic skills. As such, we argue that promoting adequate sleep is a national imperative not only for health, educational, and economic reasons but also as a necessary condition of an active civic and political life—exhausted citizens are in a poor position to exert the effort needed to engage in politics and may be more susceptible to biases in their reasoning.

Event will be held in the Central Ballroom of the Student Union as part of the STARS event on Friday, April 11th, from 12:30 to 1:30. The speech will be given during the Luncheon for students and faculty who have presented in the Student Technology, Arts, and Research Symposium, but anyone is welcome to enter the ballroom to hear the keynote speech. The speech will also be live cast online for the wider UIS community.