Pre-Term Seminar

Language, Power, and Politics

Saturday, Jan 11 | 10.30-7.30 | Elm Library

This seminar will examine the relationship between language and political power. What is the relationship between freedom of speech and other freedoms? Why do authoritarian regimes seek to control language and how can language be a tool of both control and resistance? Can words harm and, if so, how? Readings that will be discussed include classic and contemporary works by J.S. Mill, George Orwell, Robert Jay Lifton, Jeremy Waldron, and others.

Schedule (TBC)
10.30-12.00 The Free Speech Debate, Then and Now
12.00-1.30 LUNCH (ELM INSTITUTE)
1.30-2.45 Clichés, Shibboleths, and Slogans
2.45-3.00 BREAK
3.00-4.15 The Framing Wars
4.15-4.30 BREAK
4.30-5.45 Speaking With Authority
6.00-7.30 DINNER (CAST IRON CHOP HOUSE)

Open to all members of the Yale community. This seminar is currently full. If you would like to be added to the wait list, please contact Peter Wicks.

I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing