2 December 2012

5 Million Questions - public lecture with Michael Goldfarb

"What is a Nation?: National Identity and the Nation State in the 21st Century"
* First of 2013 Saturday Evening Lectures - January 19th, 6pm.

Internationally renowned author, journalist and broadcaster Michael Goldfarb will examine the nature of national identity in the 21st century when he gives the first public lecture for the University of Dundee's '5 Million Questions' project.

5 Million Questions has been established to examine the many issues around Scotland's constitutional debate, stimulating wider discussion, applying academic rigour to examination of the issues, and engaging with the public on all aspects of the major questions they are facing.

For two decades Michael Goldfarb covered conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East and Northern Ireland that had at their core people's frustrated sense of nationhood. As Scots debate their national status in earnest, he looks back at the lessons he learned covering these wars and asks whether the nationalism of the 19th and 20th centuries will meet people's needs in the 21st.

Michael Goldfarb is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He has written for The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post but is best known for his work in public radio.

"I am delighted to welcome Michael Goldfarb as the first speaker in the series of events we will be holding for 5 Million Questions," said Professor Christopher Whatley, Vice-Principal of the University of Dundee. "The question of what national identity really means in the modern world is very much a live issue and one which will inevitably influence our own future in Scotland."

The lecture takes place in the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, on Saturday January 19th at 6pm. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend. Tickets are available from: events@dundee.ac.uk and www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets, in person from Tower Building Reception at the University, or by calling 01382 385564 / 385108.

The lecture is also the first in the 2013 series of Saturday Evening Lectures at the University. The full programme will be announced shortly.

For more on Michael Goldfarb see: www.michael-goldfarb.com.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About 'Five Million Questions - Understanding Scotland's Referendum'
Before the end of 2014 Scotland will answer a profound and seemingly simple question: should we become an independent country or remain part of the UK. The consequences are profound and the details hugely complex. The debate so far has emitted more heat than light and the people of Scotland are now demanding a more illuminating discussion that exposes a reality beyond the rhetoric. While political parties have necessarily positioned and argued whether there should be one question or two and what the wording of that question should be it is clear that every Scot has their own question; Five Million Questions. And every one of those questions matters.

At our best the Universities are ancient repositories of the knowledge, and hopefully some measure of the collective wisdom, of Scotland. In what is an impassioned and partisan debate the objective neutrality of academia is ideally placed as a forum for illuminating discussion. Indeed, at the University of Dundee, we see such a role as the duty of our institution at this pivotal and exciting moment.

Five Million Questions is funded by the University of Dundee as a knowledge exchange programme that shall engage with the wider public as to the questions they wish to have answered. In return we shall seek to inform the debate as to the consequences that will result from the referendum and its result.

Five Million Questions shall seek to :

• engage in a free spirit of knowledge exchange with the Scottish people and beyond
• to bring to bear the research of the university and our partners to inform the choice of voters
• to lift the national debate beyond the obvious and towards the profound

We will achieve this by:

• hosting a series of debates, speakers and seminars that are accessible and relevant to diverse audiences
• publishing and disseminating the results of our research and discussions as widely as possible

For more information see: http://fivemillionquestions.org.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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