Hamilton, NY -Robert Jay Lifton, one of the world’s leading scholars on violence and mass destruction, will deliver a lecture at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø titled ‘Terrorism and Response: Americans As Survivors,’ on Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Love Auditorium of Olin Hall. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Lifton has been a constant presence on radio and television discussing the nature of apocalyptic violence and terrorism. Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s peace studies program, Center for Ethics and World Societies, and Office of the President and will be followed by an informal session for conversations with Lifton.
Lifton’s recent book Destroying The World to Save It, about the cult that used poison gas in the Tokyo subway in an attempt to bring about the end of the world, is being read avidly these days for the light it sheds on the nature of global terrorism and attempts at world-ending violence. Lifton’s many books include: The Genocidal Mentality; The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide; Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima; The Broken Connection: On Death and the Continuity of Life; Indefensible Weapons: The Political and Psychological Case Against Nuclearism; Home From The War: Vietnam Veterans; Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: Brain Washing in China, and Hiroshima in America: Fifty Years of Denial.
A trailblazing figure in the field of psychohistory, Lifton has spent his teaching career at Harvard, Yale, CUNY Graduate Center, and John Jay College, where he directed the Center For the Study of Violence. Currently he is distinguished professor of psychiatry and psychology emeritus and is currently founding The Center for the Study of Violence and Peace Making at Harvard. Lifton received an honorary degree from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1999.
Lifton’s lecture will be held in memory of Terrence Des Pres, who did groundbreaking work in literature and Holocaust studies and who taught at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø from 1973 until his death in 1987.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø, founded in 1819, is located in Hamilton, New York. A highly selective, independent, liberal arts college with 256 faculty members and 2,750 undergraduate men and women enrolled in programs that lead to the bachelor of arts, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø also offers a small graduate program. The university’s general education core curriculum embodies 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s longstanding commitment to integrated learning. The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) recently designated 51³Ô¹ÏÍø as one of 16 Leadership Institutions that offer a national model for excellence in innovative education. Students currently enrolled at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø hail from 44 different states, 3 U.S. territories and 26 countries. Log on to www.colgate.edu to learn more about 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.