Tweet
Clark, Worcester State to Host 'Manufacturing Denial' Conference
By Contributor on September 25, 2014
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/09/25/manufacturing-denial/
WORCESTER, Mass.--From Oct. 24-25, a conference on "Manufacturing
Denial and the Assault on Scholarship and Truth" will take place 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 (CGHR) at Rutgers University; the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR); and
Worcester State University (Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal
Opportunity, and other departments and offices).
The poster of the conference
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 1980's, 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 Fri., Oct. 24, at 7 p.m., with a keynote address by
Prof. Brendan J. Nyhan, professor in the department of government at
Dartmouth College, titled, "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, will offer welcoming
remarks. This event is open to the general public.
On Sat., Oct. 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 (NAASR), Sara Brown (Clark
University), and Shawn Olson (Utah State University).
Session 2, chaired by Dr. Taner Akcam (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 an open
discussion.
For more information, contact Sarah Cushman, the academic program
liaison officer at the Strassler Center, by calling (508) 793-7764 or
e-mailing [email protected].
By Contributor on September 25, 2014
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/09/25/manufacturing-denial/
WORCESTER, Mass.--From Oct. 24-25, a conference on "Manufacturing
Denial and the Assault on Scholarship and Truth" will take place 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 (CGHR) at Rutgers University; the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR); and
Worcester State University (Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal
Opportunity, and other departments and offices).
The poster of the conference
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 1980's, 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 Fri., Oct. 24, at 7 p.m., with a keynote address by
Prof. Brendan J. Nyhan, professor in the department of government at
Dartmouth College, titled, "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, will offer welcoming
remarks. This event is open to the general public.
On Sat., Oct. 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 (NAASR), Sara Brown (Clark
University), and Shawn Olson (Utah State University).
Session 2, chaired by Dr. Taner Akcam (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 an open
discussion.
For more information, contact Sarah Cushman, the academic program
liaison officer at the Strassler Center, by calling (508) 793-7764 or
e-mailing [email protected].