Darius Rejali, an internationally recognized expert on torture and interrogation, will speak on “Secret Histories of Modern Torture” at the Nott Memorial Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m.
His talk is free and open to the public.
Earlier in the day (12:50 p.m.) as part of Pizza & Politics, he will discuss “Torture and Democracy: What Now?” in Social Sciences 104.
A professor of political science at Reed College, Rejali is the author of “Torture and Democracy” (Princeton University Press, 2007), an examination of the use of torture by democracies in the 20th century. It won the 2007 Human Rights Book of the Year Award from the American Political Science Association and the 2009 Raphael Lemkin Award from the Institute for the Study of Genocide.
The Iranian-born Rejali was a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science at Union in 1988-89. His visit is sponsored by the department, the Minerva Programs and the President’s Office.
This year, the Fulbright Commission awarded Rejali the Distinguished Danish Chair for Human Rights and International Studies in Copenhagen. In 2003, he was named a Carnegie Scholar in recognition of his innovative approach to the study of violence.
Rejali is also the author of “Torture and Modernity: Self, Society and State in Modern Iran” (Westview, 1994), as well as many articles on violence, including “Masculinity and Torture,” “Media Representations of Torture,” and “Practice of Stoning in the Middle East.”
Rejali has been a member of the Reed faculty since 1989. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from McGill University and a B.A. in philosophy from Swarthmore College. He is a member of the editorial board of Human Rights Review.