SAR Press Release:

Duke University's Franklin Humanities Institute holds collaborative conference with Scholars at Risk on September 23-24

Collaborative Conference on "Risky Knowledge" with Scholars at Risk and Duke University's Franklin Humanities Institute. Conference held on Sept. 24 at Duke University. The conference brought together formerly threatened scholars, human rights advocates, legal theorists and others to discuss why scholars around the world face risks, ranging from censorship to violence, in their pursuit of knowledge. Get coverage and view photos from the event.

Original SAR Press Release:

SAR-PR-04-08 - August 27, 2004

New York, NY - On September 23 and 24, 2004, Duke University's Franklin Humanities Institute will organize a conference under the rubric of "Risky Knowledge" in collaboration with the Scholars at Risk Network. The conference will bring together formerly threatened scholars, human rights advocates, legal theorists and others to discuss why scholars around the world face risks, ranging from censorship to violence, in their pursuit of knowledge.

Scholars assisted by the Network and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund will participate in the conference and discuss their respective experiences as threatened scholars in Pakistan, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Cameroon. Provost Peter Lange and Vice Provost Gilbert Merkx of Duke University will participate along with Srinivas Aravamudan, Director of the Franklin Humanities Institute, and Robert Quinn, Director of Scholars at Risk and Executive Director of the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund. Other participants include Karen Engle, Professor of Law (University of Texas School of Law), Thomas Keenan, Director of the Human Rights Project at Bard College, Vina Deloria, Professor of History (University of Colorado-Boulder), Lewis Gordon, Professor of Philosophy (Temple University), Robin Kirk of the Duke Human Rights Initiative, Grant Farred, Professor of Literature (Duke University) and Walter Mignolo, Professor of Romance Studies (Duke University).

"In their pursuit of knowledge and truth, scholars and academic communities around the world, particularly those under repressive regimes, suffer harassment, intimidation and even violence. This remarkable conference brings together academics, human rights advocates and other experts to discuss those threats and ways we can work to prevent them. It also spotlights Duke's efforts to support our mission of promoting academic freedom and reinforces Duke's long history of offering assistance to threatened scholar," said Robert Quinn, Director of Scholars at Risk.

Duke University was one of the first universities in the 1930s to assist displaced scholars at a time when thousands of scholars and intellectuals were fleeing the totalitarian regimes in Europe and seeking refuge abroad. This year, Duke University joined the Scholars at Risk Network, bringing Network membership to more than 90 universities and colleges. "Duke is a welcome addition to our growing network, and we are deeply grateful to Provost Peter Lange and his colleagues at Duke for their generous support and commitment to promoting academic freedom," said Quinn.

Scholars at Risk gratefully acknowledges the support of the Franklin Humanities Institute, the Office of the Provost and the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Duke University for making this conference possible, and the collaboration of the Duke Human Rights Initiative, and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Scholars at Risk would also like to thank Richenel Ansano, Associate Director of the Franklin Humanities Institute and his staff for helping to organize this important event.

The conference will begin Thursday, Sept. 23, at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University in Durham, NC. All events are free. The conference will be webcast live at: http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/today/livevideo.php

The complete program, including schedules, a complete list of speakers and directions is available at http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/fhi/ or by calling 919-668-1901.

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