Race, Law & Exception

Friday, April 7, 2017 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Is there a common thread that connects police brutality against people of color in the US to the global "War on Terror" and to the current emergency laws in France? To this can we add the proliferation of border controls, including the recent upsurge in detentions and deportations in the US? Or the daily realities of occupation in the West Bank? What, in other words, is the relationship between race, law, and states of exception? What are the deep historical roots and global configurations of this relationship? This conference brings together scholars and practitioners from across disciplines to reflect on these questions and pose ideas for future inquiry and action.

Sponsored by: The Department of History, the Department of French and Romance Philology, History in Action, the Columbia Maison Française, the Columbia University Seminars, the Columbia Law School, the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought, and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.