The Center for European Studies at the University of Michigan is pleased to welcome Didier Fassin to deliver the Annual Distinguished Lecture on Europe, “The Denial of Racial Discrimination.” Fassin is the James D. Wolfensohn Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. In this lecture he will use examples from France to analyze the following paradox: racial discrimination is an established fact in most contemporary societies, yet it remains frequently an object of denial both from authorities and individuals.

Didier Fassin is an anthropologist and sociologist with a background practicing internal medicine and teaching public health. His past work has focused on the experience and politics of AIDS in South Africa, global interventions, and the morality of humanitarianism. With the support of the program Ideas of the European Research Council, he is currently conducting an ethnography of the state, exploring how institutions such as police, justice, and prison treat immigrants and minorities in France. This lecture is presented as part of the LSA Theme Semester “Understanding Race” and the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium, “50 Years Later: (R)Evolution of the Dream.”

PLACE: 1636 International Institute/School of Social Work, 1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor

SPONSORS: Center for European Studies, International Institute, LSA Theme Semester

WEB LINK:  www.ii.umich.edu/ces

The Ronald and Eileen Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) supports faculty and student research, teaching, collaboration, and public engagement in studying the institutions, cultures, and histories of these regions. WCEE is housed in the University of Michigan International Institute with the Center for European Studies (CES); the Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies (CREES); and the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED). Named in honor of Ronald and Eileen Weiser and inspired by their time in Slovakia during Ambassador Weiser’s service as U.S. ambassador from 2001-04, WCEE began operations in September 2008. For more information, visit www.ii.umich.edu/wcee.

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