Poynter fellows to look at ethics

Eight IU professors from a diverse range of academic departments were recently named Poynter Center fellows and will be meeting throughout the year to discuss "Memory, Ethics, Politics and Aesthetics" at the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions in Bloomington. \n"This is a chance, all too rare at most universities, for people from different academic disciplines to come together and discuss a topic of common interest," said recently appointed fellow, law school professor Joseph Hoffman. \nFellows meet in a seminar-like conference 10 times throughout the year to discuss reading material given to them by the Poynter Center. The fellows will read 80 to 100 pages to prepare for each meeting. Seminars will be led by Poynter Center director Richard Miller with the help of a research associate and two research assistants. \n"What ensues is an animated and sometimes spirited two-hour discussion of the readings and their relevance for our individual research projects," said history department professor Purnima Bose. \nThis year, fellows will read articles and books on the relationship between memory, ethics and politics from a variety of academic fields, including philosophy, history, sociology and literary criticism, Bose said. Readings also tackle these topics in a national context. Fellows will be examining issues in the United States, South Africa and Germany, among other countries. \n"The kinds of questions we will be discussing during the program are: When and how should we remember past traumatic events, and when, if ever, should we choose to forget such events?" Hoffman said. \nAll interested faculty members are eligible and must go through a formal application process to be selected by members of the center. Also, one member of the law school faculty can be selected for the board by the law school through a traditional but informal process. \nMost of the faculty members chosen are conducting research in a specific area that is relevant to this year's topic. One of the main goals of the meetings is to give faculty the opportunity to branch out of their respective departments and think about issues from a different standpoint. \n"We get to learn about the different perspectives that people from other disciplines bring to the subject matter," Hoffman said. "For example, I am learning a great deal about how historians, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers and experts in cultural studies approach the subject of memory"