[Sci-tech-public] Hugh Gusterson gives Harvard Science and Society Colloquium on September 21st

[Debbie Meinbresse]

>Science and Society Colloquium Series
>on
>Science, Policy and the Democratic Imagination
>
>
>"Mr. Powell goes to the UN"
>
>Speaker:
>
>Hugh Gusterson
>
>Associate Professor of Anthropology and
>Science and Technology Studies, MIT
>
>
>Tuesday September 21, 2004
>4:00 pm -- 6:00 pm
>
>
>
>BELL HALL, Belfer Building, 5th Floor
>Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
>
>
>ABSTRACT:  In February 2003, shortly before the US invaded Iraq, Colin 
>Powell presented the US case to the UN in a speech heard by an estimated 1 
>billion people.  In making his case he drew on several resources that have 
>recently been theorized in science studies as sources of authority in the 
>making of scientific claims: his reputation as a gentleman, the word of 
>witnesses, the objectivity of mechanical recording devices, and the 
>rhetoric of fact.  Subsequently, almost every allegation about Iraqi 
>weapons of mass destruction in his speech has been disproved or called 
>into question.  His speech shows the importance of trust and rhetoric in 
>both science and politics, while its unraveling suggests a broader crisis 
>for infrastructures of trust in the contemporary U.S.
>
>Sponsored by the Kennedy School's Program on Science, Technology, and 
>Society, in collaboration with: The Weatherhead Center for International 
>Affairs and The Center for Population and Development Studies. For more 
>information, contact: Marybeth Long Martello, Program on Science, 
>Technology, and Society, Kennedy School of Government; email: 
>Marybeth_long at harvard.edu
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