"Letter to My Father is a planned book project about the author’s journey that began in a family that was deeply traumatised by war and displacement and which led to a life project dedicated to nurturing more dignity and solidarity in the world. The author was born to a father who had experienced many existential losses — he had lost one arm, his dear father, his beloved brothers, and his beloved homeland Silesia, from where his family was forcibly displaced.

The book describes how the Norwegian heritage of likeverd and dugnad gave the author a deeper understanding of the values expressed in the ideals of human rights and the motto of the French Revolution, liberté, égalité, and fraternité. The book highlights the Norwegian cultural heritage as being important not only for Norway but for the whole world. It is a unique heritage that encompasses not only freedom and equal dignity but also solidarity, and this not just locally but also globally (see the Nansen Passport). The author attempts to make palpable how these values can give substance to the notion of dignity, both for the individual and for humanity as a whole." -- book description

Evelin Lindner is the founding president of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, a global transdisciplinary fellowship, and co-founder of the World Dignity University Initiative. She has taught in numerous international settings and published widely. Her books include Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict; Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security; A Dignity Economy; Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict; and Honor, Humiliation, and Terror. Evelin Lindner graduated in psychology in 1978, and in medicine in 1984, both from the University of Hamburg. She also studied law and sinology at the Goethe University Frankfurt and philosophy at the University of Hamburg. In 1994, she earned her first doctorate, in Medicine (Dr. med.) from the University of Hamburg. In 1997 she became a research fellow at the University of Oslo Department of Psychology, where she obtained her second doctorate, in psychology, in 2001.

Where: 306 Russell

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Poster Image: Painting of Paul and Evelin Lindner, Courtesy of Norwegian Artist Lisbeth Glad