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April 6, 2005
Whitworth Lindaman Chair to Present April 20 Lecture "The disturbing reality is that genocide continues to happen again and again," Waller says. "In addition to the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, 11 other countries have significantly high-risk factors associated with genocide, and it's very likely that at least a few of these will erupt into full-scale genocidal events in the near future." In light of the unfulfilled vow made after World War II that genocide would never occur again, Waller will present the 2005 Lindaman Lecture, "Never Again?: Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding in a Genocidal World." The lecture will take place Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m., in the Robinson Teaching Theatre, Weyerhaeuser Hall at Whitworth College. Admission is free. For more information, please call (509) 777-4738. Waller's lecture is the second installment of the annual Lindaman Lecture, which is held at Whitworth College each spring and features Whitworth's appointed Edward B. Lindaman Chair. The position is an endowed, rotating chair for senior Whitworth faculty who are engaged in significant regional and national academic initiatives and who contribute to public dialogue concerning important social issues. Waller's three-year appointment began in fall 2003. During his lecture, Waller will address the following questions: How do we keep peace in situations of intergroup conflict? What distinguishes effective peacekeeping interventions from ineffective ones? How do we build peace in post-genocidal societies? Knowing that the risk of genocide is three times greater in such societies, how do we reconstruct a divided society so that the likelihood of a recurrence of genocide is reduced? And, finally, what role does justice - restorative, retributive or reparative - play in post-genocidal healing and reconciliation? "It's only in addressing these questions that we can find hope in a genocidal world," Waller says. Waller's lecture follows up research he conducted for his most recent book, Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford University Press, 2002), which was selected as a finalist for the Raphael Lemkin Award for Outstanding Book Published in 2001-02 from the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Waller is currently finishing the final edits for the revised and updated 2nd edition of Becoming Evil, which will be release released in 2006 by Oxford University Press. The paperback edition of the first edition will be released this July. In Becoming Evil, Waller draws from his expertise as a social psychologist and from seven years of research to mount an original argument for why political, social and religious groups wanting to commit mass murder are never hindered by a lack of willing executioners. Psychologists and genocide experts have recognized Waller's book as making a significant contribution toward ongoing efforts to understand human nature and to circumvent future mass killing. Waller is preparing to write his next book about the Holocaust and international law, and is working as editor for a volume on genocide and the Christian world. His speaking engagements this year have included presentations at Florida Atlantic University, at the Chief Academic Officer's Conference for the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, at the Idaho State Department of Education, and a plenary address at the Lilly "Christianity and Human Rights" conference, at Samford University. Waller, who joined the Whitworth faculty in 1989, is the founder of Whitworth's Prejudice Across America Study Program, which gives students firsthand exposure to the corrosive effects of racism and to the work being done by individuals and groups to bring about racial reconciliation. He is planning a new study tour, Religion, Peace and Conflict in Northern Ireland, for January 2006. Waller received his doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Kentucky in 1988. He is a member of the American Psychological Society, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Spokane Task Force on Race Relations. In addition to Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, Waller is author of Prejudice Across America (University Press of Mississippi, 2000) and Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America (Perseus Books, 1998). Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private liberal-arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college enrolls more than 2,400 students in 50 undergraduate and graduate programs. Contacts: James Waller, professor of psychology, Whitworth College, (509) 777-4424 or jwaller@whitworth.edu. Kathy Fechter, program assistant, psychology department, Whitworth College, (509) 777-4738 or kfechter@whitworth.edu. | |