PUBLIC LECTURE: Terror, Catastrophe, and the Role of Theory

A public lecture by David Simpson, Distinguished Professor of English, UC Davis.

Terror and catastrophe are commonly distinguished as (respectively) man-made and natural phenomena, but there is increasing evidence for seeing them as historically related. There is also a strong case for attempting to devise a theoretical model that takes account of the history of both terms in political and aesthetic discourses. Without such theoretical efforts, we risk remaining the passive consumers of a rhetoric deployed in the service of vested interests.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. To register a place http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/simpson