About the Event
Fake news, “alternative facts,” “other” scientists, conspiracy theories — a growing part of the self-proclaimed “rational,” “enlightened” populations of the West challenge the authority of recognized scientists and accuse “serious” media channels of being under the spell, if not run by, corrupt government elites.
Yet contrary to what is often assumed, they do not turn away from science tout court but rely on what they assume to be a marginalized world of oppressed voices within science and the media. This narrative of oppression is just one of a whole set of emotionally charged storylines that are put in action in contemporary debates about the coronavirus, vaccination, climate change, and the introduction of 5G internet technology.
Natural scientists who work in these fields, and science journalists, have counteracted these interventions by patiently explaining research processes and the ethics of scientific independence. And yet they tend to only reach those who never distrusted them in the first place and hardly cause a conversion to scientific rationality in the larger populace.
Christoph Irmscher, Kirsten Twelbeck and David Polly will discuss how the humanities and social sciences can contribute their expertise, shift the public discourse to make it more permeable for nuances, and help disentangle the seemingly chaotic web of conspiracy narratives, political distrust, and anti-elitism that has infected contemporary society.
Picture: Christoph Irmscher, Kirsten Twelbeck, and David Polly © privat
This event is part of the three-part virtual speaker series Take 3: IU-Bavarian Talks. The series brings together scholars from Indiana University (IU) and Bavarian American Academy (BAA) network institutions for three academic conversations to spotlight the breadth of joint transatlantic research expertise.
About the Speakers
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Christoph Irmscher
is Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University Bloomington and director of the Wells Scholars Program. Among his books is The Poetics of Natural History (2nd edition, 1999). He co-edits the weekly news bulletin of the Concerned Scientists@IU.
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Kirsten Twelbeck
studied American Studies and Theater & Drama in Erlangen, Berlin, and Bloomington (IN). She received her Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, focusing on (self) representations of Korean Americans. She then worked as assistant professor at the Universität Hannover where she finished her “habilitation“ about the Reconstruction era. She has since held visiting professorships at various German universities and now works at the Environmental Science Center at Universität Augsburg. She is the coordinator of an international doctorate program and conducts an interdisciplinary research project on wheat.
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David Polly
is professor in Indiana University's Earth & Atmospheric Science department and has appointments in Biology and Anthropology. He is a paleontologist who studies and teaches about evolution, the history of the Earth, and long-term causes and consequences of climate change. He is also involved in public land policy relating to paleontology and conservation.
Event Organizers
Bavarian American Academy, IU Europe Gateway
