Divided and Dangerous: Human History from a Different Angle
Tukufu Zuberi
Professor of Sociology; The Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations; Program Director, Center for Africana Studies
Now, Voltaire said somewhere that the secret to being boring is to say everything. The structure of this lecture has forced me to avoid this trap by being selective and patchy.
Conflict over human difference has killed more people than the atomic bomb, and it may prove to be our undoing. In the last 3,000 years we see a rising crescendo of racial, religious, political, and economic tensions. These clashes characterize our age of civilization and serve as justifications for acts of terror, freedom, and democracy. For too long the pages of history have been stained by the blood shed in the name of God, the race, the king or queen, the people or the fatherland. Human differences have come in many forms. We have killed each other because of differences of religion, race, class, geography, wealth, education, to mention a few of the more contemporary justifications. These justifications are all based on ideas that we create. Thank you.