Hardt-Nickachos Lectures in Peace Studies featuring David Livingstone Smith
Real Horror: Race, Gender and Dehumanization
What exactly is dehumanization? Many people assume that when people are dehumanized, they are seen as less-than-human animals. But this is an incomplete and misleading picture. In reality, members of dehumanized groups are not imagined merely as animals such rats or lice, but are portrayed as monstrous or demonic creatures. Using historical examples, I will explain how and why this happens, focusing on the strong association between dehumanization, race and gender, and go on to consider what we can do and help others to do, to resist and combat the dehumanizing mentality.
Described as "A philosopher seeking not just to interpret the world, but to change it" by the Times Literary Supplement, University of New England professor David Livingstone Smith will deliver this year's Hardt-Nickachos Lecture in Peace Studies.
The study of humanity in response to inhumanity has been the focus of Livingstone Smith's life work. He has written and edited ten books on the subject. His 2011 "Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others" won the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf award for nonfiction. His book, "On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It," was published by Oxford University Press in 2020 and his tenth book, "Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization," was published by Harvard University Press in 2021.
His book, "On Inhumanity," is praised by Cornel West as “a philosophically sophisticated and prophetically courageous treatment of dehumanization, especially in regard to race,” and by Yale University historian Timothy Snyder as “firm but gentle, wise but accessible.” University of Pennsylvania law professor Dorothy Roberts says that, “'On Inhumanity' brilliantly provides a chilling warning of repeating the past and a hopeful call to create a more humane future," and science journalist Angela Saini calls it, "a chilling, comprehensive and passionate account of dehumanization,” and adds that “Smith offers a devastating reminder of the capacity of every human to treat other humans as lesser."
About the Speaker
Livingstone Smith is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose publications are cited not only by other philosophers, but also by historians, legal scholars, psychologists and anthropologists. He has been featured in prime-time television documentaries, is often interviewed and cited in the national and international media, and has been a guest at the G20 economic summit.
This event is part of the Hardt-Nickachos Lectures in Peace Studies, an endowed lecture series made possible by a gift from a generous donor. Past speakers have included Stanley Hauerwas, Sari Nusseibeh, Selma Leydesdorff and Pankaj Mishra.