Who Gets Believed? When the Truth Isn't Enough
Why are people judged on whether or not they are compelling? Why isn\u2019t telling the truth enough? What are people really listening for when others share their truths? And how does this harm asylum seekers? Dina Nayeri joins us to share:\n\nWhy our perceptions of other people\u2019s experiences impact them and us.\n\nWhat makes a \u201ccredible\u201d story, and what doesn\u2019t.\n\nHow her own stories shape her.\n\nWhy it can be difficult to believe a messy truth.\n\nWhat she had to forgive herself for.\n\nThe book\xa0Who Gets Believed.\n\n\nToday\u2019s book is:\xa0Who Gets Believed\xa0by Dina Nayeri, which asks unsettling questions about lies, truths, and the difference between being believed and being dismissed. Dina Nayeri begins with asking\xa0why are honest asylum seekers dismissed as liars? She shares shocking and illuminating case studies, as the book grows into a reckoning with our culture\u2019s views on believability. From learning the tools of persuasion and performance in her job at McKinsey to struggling to believe her troubled brother-in-law, Nayeri explores an aspect of our society that is rarely held up to the light.\xa0Who Gets Believed\xa0is a book as deeply personal as it is profound in its reflections on morals, language, literature, human psychology, and the unspoken social codes that determine how we relate to one another.\nOur guest is:\xa0Dina Nayeri, who is the author of novels, articles, and creative nonfiction. A former Fellow at the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris, winner of the UNESCO City of Literature Paul Engle Prize, and fellow at the American Library in Paris, she has also won a National Endowment for the Arts literature grant, the O. Henry Prize, and Best American Short Stories, among other honors. Her work has been published in 20+ countries, in\xa0The Guardian,\xa0The New Yorker,\xa0Granta, and many other publications. She is a graduate of Princeton, Harvard, and the Iowa Writers Workshop. She has recently joined the permanent faculty at the University of St. Andrews.\nOur host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a historian.\nListeners to this episode may also be interested in:\n\nThe American Library in Paris\n\nThe Innocence Project\n\n\nA Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, by Dina Nayeri\n\n\nRefuge, by Dina Nayeri\n\n\nThe Ungrateful Refugee,\xa0by Dina Nayeri\n\n\nBecoming the Writer You Already Are,\xa0by Michelle R. Boyd\n\n\nWelcome to The Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from today\u2019s experts inside and outside the academy, and embrace the broad definition of what it means to live an academic life.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law