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PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Contact: Marc Mamigonian
Tel: 617-489-1610
Fax: 617-484-1759
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.naasr.org/
Clark University and Worcester State University to Host
`Manufacturing Denial and the Assault on Scholarship and Truth'
The conference `Manufacturing Denial and the Assault on Scholarship
and Truth' will take place on Friday and Saturday, October 24-25,
2014, at Worcester State University and Clark University in Worcester.
The conference is co-sponsored and organized by the Strassler Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University; the Robert
Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair at the
Strassler Center; the Armenian Genocide Program at the Center for the
Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University; the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research; and Worcester State
University (Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity, and
other departments and offices).
The academic conference represents the first time that social
scientists and natural scientists will meet to analyze the analogous
and interrelated, though not always identical, phenomena of genocide
denial - of the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust, Rwandan, and other cases
- and the denial of scientific truth - from evolution to climate
change.
Since the 1980s, genocide denial, particularly of the Holocaust and
the Armenian Genocide, has generated a substantial body of literature
analyzing and documenting the methods and rhetoric of those who seek
to negate or obscure documented cases of mass violence. More
recently, an impressive amount of literature has explored the ways in
which various industries and political operatives have used the
strategy of `manufacturing doubt' to undermine the scientific
consensus on smoking, pollution, evolution, and global warming.
Nonetheless, the corruption and co-opting of scholarship for the
purposes of fomenting denial continues.
The conference will open at Worcester State University's Ghosh
Auditorium on Friday, October 24, at 7:00 p.m., with a keynote address
by Prof. Brendan J. Nyhan, professor in the Department of Government
at Dartmouth College, entitled `The Challenge of Denial: Why People
Refuse to Accept Unwelcome Facts,' and a response by Prof. Henry
Theriault, chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Worcester State
University. Khatchig Mouradian, Ph.D. candidate at Clark's Strassler
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Coordinator of the
Armenian Genocide Program at the CGHR at Rutgers University, will
offer welcoming remarks. This event is open to the general public.
On Saturday, April 25, beginning at 8:30 a.m., there will be four
two-hour sessions held at Clark University. These sessions are
primarily for conference participants but a limited number of seats
are available to the public by reservation only.
Session 1, `Modern Strategies and Rhetoric of Denial,' will be chaired
by Dr. Lou Ann Matossian (independent scholar) and will include
presentations by Marc A. Mamigonian (National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research), Sara Brown (Clark University), and Shawn Olson
(Utah State University).
Session 2, chaired by Dr. Taner Akçam (Clark University), will examine
`The Political Uses of Denial.' Participating in the session will be
Dr. Jennifer Dixon (Villanova University), Dr. Alex Hinton (Rutgers
University), and Dr. Mark Gottleib (Northeastern University).
Session 3 will take up the question `Countering Denial: How and When?'
with Dr. Dikran Kaligian (Worcester State University) as chairman.
The panelists will be Dr. Keith Watenpaugh (University of California,
Davis), Dr.
Ken Maclean (Clark University), and Emma Bloomfield (University of
Southern California).
The conference will conclude with a summing up panel featuring
Dr. Debórah Dwork (Clark University), Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian
(University of California, Los Angeles), and Dr. Massimo Pigliucci
(City University of New York-Lehman College), followed by open
discussion.
For more information, please contact Sarah Cushman, Strassler Center
Academic Program Liaison Officer, at 508-793-7764 or
[email protected].
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Contact: Marc Mamigonian
Tel: 617-489-1610
Fax: 617-484-1759
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.naasr.org/
Clark University and Worcester State University to Host
`Manufacturing Denial and the Assault on Scholarship and Truth'
The conference `Manufacturing Denial and the Assault on Scholarship
and Truth' will take place on Friday and Saturday, October 24-25,
2014, at Worcester State University and Clark University in Worcester.
The conference is co-sponsored and organized by the Strassler Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University; the Robert
Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair at the
Strassler Center; the Armenian Genocide Program at the Center for the
Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University; the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research; and Worcester State
University (Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity, and
other departments and offices).
The academic conference represents the first time that social
scientists and natural scientists will meet to analyze the analogous
and interrelated, though not always identical, phenomena of genocide
denial - of the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust, Rwandan, and other cases
- and the denial of scientific truth - from evolution to climate
change.
Since the 1980s, genocide denial, particularly of the Holocaust and
the Armenian Genocide, has generated a substantial body of literature
analyzing and documenting the methods and rhetoric of those who seek
to negate or obscure documented cases of mass violence. More
recently, an impressive amount of literature has explored the ways in
which various industries and political operatives have used the
strategy of `manufacturing doubt' to undermine the scientific
consensus on smoking, pollution, evolution, and global warming.
Nonetheless, the corruption and co-opting of scholarship for the
purposes of fomenting denial continues.
The conference will open at Worcester State University's Ghosh
Auditorium on Friday, October 24, at 7:00 p.m., with a keynote address
by Prof. Brendan J. Nyhan, professor in the Department of Government
at Dartmouth College, entitled `The Challenge of Denial: Why People
Refuse to Accept Unwelcome Facts,' and a response by Prof. Henry
Theriault, chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Worcester State
University. Khatchig Mouradian, Ph.D. candidate at Clark's Strassler
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Coordinator of the
Armenian Genocide Program at the CGHR at Rutgers University, will
offer welcoming remarks. This event is open to the general public.
On Saturday, April 25, beginning at 8:30 a.m., there will be four
two-hour sessions held at Clark University. These sessions are
primarily for conference participants but a limited number of seats
are available to the public by reservation only.
Session 1, `Modern Strategies and Rhetoric of Denial,' will be chaired
by Dr. Lou Ann Matossian (independent scholar) and will include
presentations by Marc A. Mamigonian (National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research), Sara Brown (Clark University), and Shawn Olson
(Utah State University).
Session 2, chaired by Dr. Taner Akçam (Clark University), will examine
`The Political Uses of Denial.' Participating in the session will be
Dr. Jennifer Dixon (Villanova University), Dr. Alex Hinton (Rutgers
University), and Dr. Mark Gottleib (Northeastern University).
Session 3 will take up the question `Countering Denial: How and When?'
with Dr. Dikran Kaligian (Worcester State University) as chairman.
The panelists will be Dr. Keith Watenpaugh (University of California,
Davis), Dr.
Ken Maclean (Clark University), and Emma Bloomfield (University of
Southern California).
The conference will conclude with a summing up panel featuring
Dr. Debórah Dwork (Clark University), Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian
(University of California, Los Angeles), and Dr. Massimo Pigliucci
(City University of New York-Lehman College), followed by open
discussion.
For more information, please contact Sarah Cushman, Strassler Center
Academic Program Liaison Officer, at 508-793-7764 or
[email protected].