RADICAL FORGIVENESS: BEYOND HANNAH ARENDT

Friday 7 September, 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start

Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Entry 3 La Trobe Street

Political philosopher Hannah Arendt famously remarked that the radical evil of the concentration camps represented a crime of such magnitude that it could neither be punished nor forgiven.

In this lecture internationally acclaimed Professor of Psychology, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela reaches beyond Arendt, with her concept of “radical forgiveness” She offers hope and the possibility that every person, no matter how dehumanised, can be restored to human community.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Her current research interests are trauma in the aftermath of violence, the role of forgiveness in healing psychological trauma, and HIV/AIDS and trauma. She is the author of many books. Her most critically acclaimed, A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness, won the 2004 Alan Paton Award in South Africa. Her latest is Narrating Our History: Perspectives on Working Through Trauma, co-authored with Chris van der Merwe.

She served on the Human Rights Violations Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and chaired numerous Public Hearings for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Drawing on her experiences serving on the Truth and Reconciliation Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela will lead a discussion about this powerful and challenging reappraisal of the possibilities of forgiveness in politics.

Book online by Thursday 30 August www.arts.monash.edu.au/news-and-events/public-lectures/ or by phone 03 9905 2112

Admission: Free, refreshments provided

posted by Sae @ Thursday, August 30, 2007 Comments: 0