The Center for Public Scholarship at The New School and the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University invite you to the 37th Social Research Conference: Cons and Scams: Their Place in American Culture.
Cons and con men have long been present in American culture and are often represented as romantic figures. This symposium will explore cons and scams in their many guises and what makes us vulnerable to them, with particular attention to the current political scene in the US.
*This event is free and open to the public.
PROGRAM
DAY 1: Monday, April 23
SESSION I: 12:30 - 2:30 PM
CONS AND SCAMS IN AMERICAN CULTURE
(LOCATION: Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NY, NY)
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Edward Balleisen, Professor of History and Public Policy; Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University; author of Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff (2017)
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Noah Isenberg, Professor of Culture and Media at the New School’s Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, director of Screen Studies program; author of We’ll Always Have Casablanca (2017)
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Geoffrey O’Brien, American poet, essayist, and cultural historian; former Editor in Chief, Library of America and author of Stolen Glimpses, Captive Shadows: Writing on Film, 2002–2012 (2013)
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Moderator: Mark Greif, Associate Professor of Literary Studies, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School
SESSION 2: 3:00 - 5:00 PM
CASE STUDIES: FINANCE, EDUCATION, AND LAW
(LOCATION: Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NY, NY)
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Diana Henriques, financial journalist for the New York Times from 1989 to 2012 and now a contributing writer, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust (2011)
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Robert Shireman, Senior Education Fellow, The Century Foundation
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Barak Orbach, Professor of Law and Director of the Business Law Program, The University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law; author of the article “Scamming: The Misunderstood Confidence Man” (2015)
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Moderator: William Deringer, Visiting Fellow, History and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University
DAY 2: Tuesday, April 24
SESSION 3, PART 1: 12:30 - 2:00 PM
CASE STUDIES: ART
(LOCATION: Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NY, NY)
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Elaine Salisbury, author of Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art (2009) and The Conman: How One Man Fooled Britain’s Modern Art Establishment (2010); Lecturer, SUNY – Albany
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Maggie Cao, David G. Frey Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Moderator: María González Pendás, Lecturer in Art History and Mellon Research Fellow, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University
SESSION 3, PART 2: 2:10 - 3:40 pm
CASE STUDIES: SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
(LOCATION: Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NY, NY)
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Daniel Kevles, Stanley Woodward Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University
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Nina Shapiro, Director of Pediatric Ear, Nose, and Throat at the Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; author of Hype: A Doctor’s Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims and Bad Advice – How to Tell What’s Real and What’s Not(2018)
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Moderator: Heidi Hausse, Lecturer in history and Mellon Research Fellow, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University
This event is cosponsored by:
The Center for Public Scholarship seeks to promote free inquiry and public discussion, bringing the best scholarship in and outside of the academy to bear on the critical and contested issues of our times. For more information, visit: www.centerforpublicscholarship.org
The Heyman Center for the Humanities provides the intellectual and physical space for interdisciplinary discussions among members of the Columbia community and the New York City public. For more information, visit: www.heymancenter.org
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