Cafe Historique: Abolishing Torture During the Enlightenment and Why the Practice Continues Today

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Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
Doors open at 5:30 pm, talk begins at 7:00 pm

The History Department at UVic is pleased to announce the third talk of our 2014-15 Café Historique season: "Abolishing Torture During the Enlightenment and Why the Practice Continues Today."

Presented by Dr. Sara Beam, Department of History, University of Victoria

From Prussia's decision to abolish torture in 1754 to the 1984 United Nations convention against torture, governing bodies have been trying and often failing to curb the practice of torture worldwide. This talk explores the origins of opposition to torture in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, and explains why the principles articulated during the Enlightenment are still so difficult to apply today.

What is a Café Historique? A group of interesting people in a convivial café setting, who gather to hear a talk and discuss new ideas about how the past has shaped our present and future, as well as to drink, eat, converse, meet friends, and have an evening to remember.

Café Historique is a pay-what-you-want event and is open to the public. Please look for the donation box at the entrance; if each audience member contributed as little as a twoonie, the series would be able to cover its production costs!

Seating is limited, so to guarantee a place, audience members should reserve tickets using Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cafe-historique-abolishing-torture-during-the-enlightenment-and-why-the-practice-continues-today-tickets-14431734707.