Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History
2013-2014 Lecture Series
Presented by the Department of History at SFU
It can be tempting to look at historical figures as either wholly good or wholly evil; as heroes or as villains. Mahatma Gandhi: high-minded hero. Rodrigo Borgia: scheming villain.
This perspective contains elements of truth, but also ignores the more complicated and compelling reality that both good and evil reside within us all. In its 2013-2014 lecture series, “Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History,” the SFU History Department hopes to break down the good-evil binary by revisiting and re-evaluating the lives of some notorious heroes and villains of history.
All lectures will be held in the Fletcher Challenge Theatre at the Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC.
September 19, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Rebel Life: The Life and Times of Robert Gosden, Revolutionary, Mystic, Labour Spy
Book launch and talk
Mark Leier
October 24, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Great Soul or Great Schemer? Exploring the Myth of Mahatma Gandhi
Bidisha Ray
November 28, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Trudeau 2.0: Pierre’s Legacy and Justin’s Future
A panel discussion with Elise Chenier, Nicolas Kenny, and Allen Seager.
Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
January 23, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Reflections on the Renaissance Papacy
Emily O’Brien
February 26, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.
The Yin-Yang of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Karen Ferguson
March 27, 2014 | 6:30 p.m.
Ottoman Hero or Frontier Villain? Ahmed Feyzi Pasha (1839-1915)
Thomas Kuehn
Website: https://sfu.ca/history/events/heroesandvillains.html
Contact: Allison McMahon, (778) 319-3853, histcomm@sfu.ca
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Blog posts published before October 28, 2018 are licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.