May Program Meeting:
Dr. Dmitri Stanchevici will give a presentation entitled, "Rhetorical Study in Politics and Science: The Case of Genetics in the Stalinist Soviet Union"

Dr. Stanchevici teaches technical writing and rhetoric of science in the Department of English at the University of Memphis. He graduated with a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University.

A book about his studies will soon be published by Baywood Publishing under the title Stalinist Genetics: The Constructional Rhetoric of T.D. Lysenko.

From the Texas Tech website about Dr. Stancevici's doctoral thesis:

"This study focuses on the constitutional rhetoric of T. D. Lysenko, the founder of an agrobiological doctrine (Lysenkoism) in the Stalinist Soviet Union. As the result of using not only scientific, but also political and ideological arguments, the Lysenkoists achieved an official ban on Mendelian genetics in the Soviet Union.

Though the ban was brief and Lysenkoism as a leading biological doctrine was eventually deposed in favor of Mendelianism, today Lysenkoism remains a paradigmatic example of the pernicious political interference in science.

This study of Lysenko's constitutional rhetoric contributes to a better understanding of modern science. I argue for a blurriness of the boundaries between what is scientific and political in the discourse of contemporary scientific controversies. I also argue that scientific language reveals more plasticity and capability to adapt to the political situation than has hitherto been assumed."

Topic: Rhetorical Study in Politics and Science: The Case of Genetics in the Stalinist Soviet Union.
Speaker: Dmitri Stanchevici, Ph.D., University of Memphis

Date: May 19, 2010
Time: 5:45 p.m.
Location: The Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave. Click here for a map.
Cost: FREE