Robert Jay Lifton, Marianne Hirsch and Peter Balakian To Discuss Survivor Meaning at Columbia University, December 4

NEW YORK — A panel about survivor meaning featuring leading scholars in the field will be held at Columbia University on Wednesday evening, December 4, in an event hosted by the Armenian Center at Columbia University.

“Survivor Meaning: After the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and Hiroshima: A Symposium with Robert Jay Lifton, Peter Balakian, and moderator Marianne Hirsch,” will feature discussions about survivor experience with a focus on psychological and social notions of meaning in the wake of three traumatic historical events.

Each of the panelists has made significant contributions to the study of survivor experience and memory. Robert Jay Lifton, the author of more than 20 books, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at CUNY/Graduate Center and John Jay College for Criminal Justice and the Winner of the National Book Award for Life In Death: Survivors of Hiroshima.

Marianne Hirsch is William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University as well as Professor in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She is the author of many books including her most recent The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust.

Peter Balakian is Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities at Colgate University and currently the Ordjanian Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of many books including his New York Times best selling memoir Black Dog of Fate, which won the PEN/Albrand Prize.

The panel will begin at 7:45 pm in room 614 of the Schermerhorn building (located at 1198 Amsterdam Avenue). This event is free and open to the public.