Science at FSV UK: Prof. Kennan Ferguson explores power in everyday life, food, and community

Politics isn’t just about elections, governments, or party lines – it’s in what we eat, how we feel, and the ways we relate to others. In this interview, Professor Kennan Ferguson of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, currently a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at FSV UK, challenges conventional ideas of politics, showing how power shapes everyday life – from cookbooks to concepts of debt.

What is he currently working on? "One project continues to explore the relationship between debt and freedom, which I expect will develop into a book. Another line of thought concerns how we understand power. Many assume that power is a human invention that emerged with institutions like the Greek polis and then spread globally. I think that is mistaken," he says. "Politics operates not only among humans but also through relationships involving non-human entities. Questions about nature, history, aesthetics, artificial intelligence, non-human animals, and other forms of life can all be political if we move beyond a strictly human-centered view of politics."

Read the full interview on our website!

Professor Ferguson will present a public lecture on the topic of On the Political Ethics of Debt on Monday, April 13, 2026 from 6:30 pm in room C117 at the Jinonice Campus:

Debt, we generally think, is either neutral or bad. For accountants, for example, it merely functions as a relationship of numbers and capital, and is thus just descriptive. For those who oppose indebtedness, at either the personal or nation-state level, it proves onerous and extractive. But what we generally think of as debt—namely, a legally binding, usually institutional, and often long-term but temporally limited liability—is merely one form among many. It is also a specifically recent one. These obligations, such as mortgages, student loans, IMF obligations, and medical bills, often capture and immiserate, and they should not be disregarded. But they are only one form of debt, and confusing them with all debt eliminates the possibility of appreciating debt’s capacities. Other kinds of debt, many of which predate capitalism, actually make possible many aspects of human existence. This lecture argues for understanding debt as a moral and ethical relationship, and examines thinkers, strategies, and representation that allow for a reconceptualization of indebtedness.