Robert Fuller
Speaking Tour
Saturday 28 October – Tuesday 7 November 2006
Melbourne and other cities around Australia
and Auckland, New Zealand
Sponsored by the Victorian Peace Network, the Globalism Institute and others.
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| Robert Fuller |
Robert trained as a physicist, but having witnessed first-hand the famine following the war which led to the creation of Bangladesh, he began work campaigning against world hunger. During the Carter administration in the US, he worked as a citizen-diplomat and scientist to lessen cold war tensions.
Robert W. Fuller’s “All Rise. Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity,” was published in June 2006 and his bestselling Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank was widely acclaimed in Australia and across the world.
Fuller argues that rankism – abuse of the power that comes with superior rank – does serious damage to our private relationships and public institutions. The book suggests how to design social institutions in order to overcome rankism and protect human dignity
In his groundbreaking book Somebodies and Nobodies, Robert Fuller identified a form of domination that everyone has experienced but few dare to protest – rankism. It plays a role in just about every form of social oppression – racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance all have a significant element of rankism in them.
Most everyone has felt the sting of rankism – at the hands of a dictatorial boss, a condescending teacher, an arrogant doctor, or an imperious bureaucrat. But, equally, most everyone has inflicted it on someone of lower rank. That we are, all of us, both victims and perpetrators of rankism mandates a novel, multifaceted strategy for confronting it.
Fuller isn’t proposing that we do away with rank – without it most organizations become dysfunctional. He’s not advocating an egalitarian society where all are equal in rank, but rather a “dignitarian” one where all are equal in dignity. A society in which rank-holders are held accountable, rankism is shunned, and dignity is broadly protected.
In All Rise, Fuller lays the groundwork for a dignitarian society by delineating the scope and impact of rankism and then shows how a dignitarian movement can defeat it by addressing such issues as: What would workplaces, schools, healthcare organizations, politics, religion, and international relations look like if they were to embody dignitarian values? What policies could we develop to defend dignity in our various social institutions? How can we embody these principles in our lives and create a culture of universal dignity?
All Rise offers hope and practical solutions for fashioning a world where human relationships are governed by respect and every person’s right to dignity is affirmed.
ROBERT W. FULLER has a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, taught at Columbia University, and co-authored Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics. At age 33, he was appointed president of Oberlin College, his alma mater. After Oberlin he became a citizen-diplomat and served as Board Chair of the global nonprofit Internews while developing the analysis that lies at the heart of Somebodies and Nobodies and All Rise.
- New Dimensions Programs.
- Read Robert Fuller's Biography;
- Robert's Home page Dignity is Not Negotiable.
- Testimonials from various people;
- an article from the New Zealand Herald.
High resolution images: [1] | [2], 18Mb version available upon request from Andy Blunden.
![[1]](portrait3.jpg){kind=link}
![[2]](portrait4.jpg){kind=link}
Program
Melbourne, Tuesday 31st October 2006
Public Lecture: “Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity,” 6:30pm Casey Plaza Lecture Theatre, Bldg 10 RMIT, entry in Bowen La.
Program in Other Cities, To Be Advised
For further information contact Manfred Steger at the Globalism Institute or Andy Blunden for the Victorian Peace Network.