FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834

February 21, 2008

POLISH EDUCATORS TO DISCUSS "VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA" AT GRINNELL COLLEGE

GRINNELL, IA.- Polish educators Konstanty Gebert and Jan Miernowski, who have each experienced political regimes firsthand, will discuss "The Representation of Violence in Literature and the Media," on Thurs., Mar. 6 at 4:15 p.m. in ARH 305 on the Grinnell College campus.

Gebert, who is the John R. Heath Visiting Professor on the Grinnell campus this spring, is an international writer and editor. While based in Warsaw, Gebert covered the Bosnian War, Latin American, the Balkans, Israel, and Russia. During his semester at Grinnell, he is teaching courses on "Media and Ethnic Conflict" and "Comparing Genocide."

Miernowski, professor of French at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, first met Gebert in the early 1970s when Gebert was writing for an underground newspaper that Miernowski helped to transmit to other Polish intellectuals. Miernowski is currently completing a book on the aesthetics of hatred in French literature from the Renaissance to the 20th century.

The John R. Heath Visiting Professorship at Grinnell was established in 1961 to promote and foster friendship and understanding between the United States and the peoples of other countries. The Heath Professorship brings to the Grinnell campus distinguished scholars, political figures, writers, artists and others who convey international understanding and in turn interpret American life when they return to their homelands.

For more information, contact the Center for International Studies at 641-269-4715. Alumni Recitation Hall (ARH) is located at the intersection of 8th Ave. and Park St. on the Grinnell College campus.

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