Is there a common thread that connects police brutality against African-Americans 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.

Speakers: Partha Chatterjee (Anthropology, Columbia), Vanessa Codaccioni (Political Science, Université Paris 8), Sarah Ghabrial (History, Columbia) Gregory Mann (History, Columbia), Anupama Rao (History, Barnard), Emmanuelle Saada (History, Columbia), Wadie Said (Law, University of South Carolina), Nikhil Pal Singh (History, NYU), and Patricia Williams (Law, Columbia).

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

Conference Schedule:

10-10:15AM: Welcome and Opening Remarks – Sarah Ghabrial (Organizer)

10:15AM-12PM: PANEL 1: COLONIALISM AS EXCEPTION Anupama Rao (History, Barnard), “The Legislation of Damaged Life. Or, How to Write Histories of Colonial Violence.” Gregory Mann (History, Columbia), “Authority and Exception in French Africa” Partha Chatterjee (Anthropology, Columbia), “The Imperial Privilege as Exception: Race and Law in South Asia.” Moderator: Neferti Tadiar (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Barnard)

12PM-12:45: LUNCH BREAK

12:45-2:30PM: PANEL 2: FRENCH GENAOLOGIES OF INSURGENCY AND COUNTER-INSURGENCY Sarah Ghabrial (History, Columbia), “Race, Repression, and the Right of Death in Colonial Algeria.” Emmanuelle Saada (French, Columbia), ”A Very Long Exception: Race and Law in the French Empire.” Vanessa Codaccioni (Political Science, Université Paris 8), “The Discriminatory Nature of the State of Emergency: The French Case.” Moderator: Kendall Thomas (Law, Columbia)

2:30-2:45PM: COFFEE BREAK

2:45PM-4:30PM: HOMELAND SECURITY: THE U.S. AND ITS EMPIRE Nikhil Pal Singh (History, NYU), “Trump, Police Power, and the Present Crisis.” Wadie Said (Law, University of South Carolina), “Exceptions and Constructs in the War on Terror.” Patricia Williams (Law, Columbia), “Other People’s Children.” Moderator: Robert Gooding-Williams (Philosophy, Columbia)