Bio

Evelin Lindner comes from a family who was displaced and is deeply affected by trauma from war and forced displacement. Her motivation is to work for a better and more dignified world. For 35 years, Evelin lived globally, with Norway as important base, and in the last 10 years, she has invited like-minded scholars and activists of first rank from all over the world into the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network (HumanDHS). About 1,000 people have been personally invited so far (this number is increasing every day), about 4,000 people are on the mailing list, and www.humiliationstudies.org, of which she is the webmaster, is read by more than 40,000 people from more than 180 countries the world each year, and the web site comes up at the top when you search on Google.

Watch a video invitation to the newly upcoming World Dignity University from Evelin at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyPwHC5JdU.

Evelin Lindner is a transdisciplinary social scientist and humanist. She draws on a wide range of fields, from neuroscience to political science and philosophy. She holds two Ph.D.s, one in medicine and the other in psychology. She is the Founding President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, the global network of academics and practitioners (HumanDHS). Lindner lives and teaches globally, affiliated not only with the University of Oslo, but also with Columbia University in New York, or the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris.

In 1996, she designed her doctoral research project at the University of Oslo on the concept of humiliation and its role in war and genocide. German history served as starting point. It is often assumed that the humiliation of the Germans through the Versailles Treaties after World War I was partly responsible for World War II and the Holocaust. It seemed therefore important to understand the nature of humiliation and how it is related to the occurrence of war and mass violence.

From 1997-2001, Lindner carried out this research, interviewing over 200 people who were either implicated in or knowledgeable about the mass killings in Rwanda, Somalia, and Nazi Germany. Since 2001, Lindner develops Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies as an international platform for further work on dignity and humiliation. She continues with her personal research and is working on a theory of dignity and humiliation. Her research shows that understanding the role of honour and dignity (with humiliation as their violation) is crucial if the international community wishes to succeed in overcoming the crises it currently faces. Honour, dignity, and humiliation are central, not just when we want to respond to terrorism, war and genocide, but also when we wish to create long-term social and ecological sustainability, locally and globally.

Lindner is the author of Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict, published by Praeger in 2006 with a Foreword by Morton Deutsch, Professor Emeritus of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. This book was praised as path-breaking and honoured as a Choice 2007 Outstanding Academic Title.

Her second book is titled Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict, also published by Praeger, in 2009, with a Foreword by Morton Deutsch.

Her third book is Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security: Dignifying Relationships from Love, Sex, and Parenthood to World Affairs (Praeger, 2010), with a Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu.

Furthermore, Lindner is the author of many articles and chapters, see full texts on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.

Selected Publications

Lindner, E. (2012). A Dignity Economy: Creating an Economy that Serves Human Dignity and Preserves Our Planet. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press.

Lindner, E. (2010). Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security: Dignifying Relationships from Love, Sex, and Parenthood to World Affairs. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Praeger Security International.

Lindner, E. (2009). Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict. Westport, CT: Greenwood/Praeger Security International.

Lindner, E. (2007). Avoiding humiliation: From Intercultural Communication to Global Interhuman Communication. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 10, 21-38. PDF

Lindner, E. (2006). Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict. Westport, CT: Greenwood/Praeger Security International.