December 6, 2002

Biever Guest Lecture Series Spring 2003

Overcoming a Past of Terror?
The Problem of International Criminal Courts or National Truth and Reconciliation Commissions
January 7, 2003, 7 p.m.
Nunemaker Auditorium

Professor Albert van Goudoever is the author of numerous books and articles including "The Problem of the International Protection of Human Rights Since 1945." Goudoever has served as a member of the board of the Dutch National Research School for Human Rights. Contact Professor of History Bernard Cook at 865-3537 or cook@loyno.edu.

Martin Luther King, SNCC, & Me: A White Southerner in the Civil Rights Movement
Thursday, January 30, 2003, 7:30 p.m.
Nunemaker Auditorium

Professor Bob Zellner of Southampton College at Long Island University will deliver the lecture. Zellner is an historian, activist, and teacher. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, the Department of History, the Loyola University Student Sociology Organization (LUSSO), the Black Student Union (BSU), and the Twomey Center for Peace Through Justice. Contact Professor of Sociology Anthony Ladd at 865-3640 or aladd@loyno.edu.

The Politics of Tragedy/The Tragedy of Politics
February 13, 2003, 7 p.m.
Monroe Hall Room 156

Robert Pirro is the assistant professor of political science at Georgia Southern University. He is the author of Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Tragedy, as well as articles and conference papers on aesthetics and politics. His degrees are from Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley. Pirro is the first scholar to explore the link between Greek Tragedy and Arendt's theory of narrative. Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Tragedy has been well-received as an important new work in the aesthetic theory of politics. Pirro will discuss the relationship between politics and aesthetics, specifically the tragic nature of politics. Building on the work of Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arendt, many contemporary political theorists recognize the inherent connection between art and the political world. Pirro will explain this in a 45-minute lecture and leave ample time for questions and responses. Contact Professor of Political Science Eric Gorham at 865-3361 or gorham@loyno.edu.

The Transition to Democracy in Bulgaria
February 18, 2003, 7 p.m.
University Library Seminar Room 4

Dimiter Minchev is the director of the Bulgarian Military History Center of the G.S. Rakovski Defense and Staff College. He is a Fulbright Scholar at Loyola University, and author of a number of books on Bulgarian and Macedonian history. Contact Professor of History Bernard Cook at 865-3537 or cook@loyno.edu.

Fundamentalism, Modernism, and a Postmodern Future
February 24, 2003, 7 p.m.
Location TBA

Rebecca Moore is the assistant professor of religious studies at San Diego State University. The events of September 11, 2001 forced Americans to wake up to the global issue of fundamentalism. Initially understood as a movement within Christianity that rejected changes in the understanding of history, science, and the world, fundamentalism now connotes all religious resistance to modernism. Is fundamentalism primarily a religious movement, a holy war against the demonic forces of secularism? Or is it part of a larger, postmodern reaction to the failure of modernism to live up to its promises and potential? In other words, could the fundamentalists be right in their analysis of current events and world affairs? This lecture will examine the rise of fundamentalism within Christianity, and the extension of the term to encompass other world religions and movements. It will look at the issues of concern to fundamentalists, and compare them with those of other critics of global capitalism. It should clarify some confusion about vocabulary, terms, and the general role that fundamentalists are playing in world politics today. Contact Professor of Religious Studies Catherine Wessinger at 865-3182 or wessinger@loyno.edu.