October 12, 2006
Speaker to address questions of law, violence, global war
We’ve seen the horrific photos from the “war on terror.” We’ve heard the sickening tales. But what do they mean?
Derek Gregory, a well-known scholar in human and cultural geography, will explain in a series of UW talks the week of Oct. 23–27. Gregory will be in residence at the UW Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities.
On Oct. 25, Gregory will speak on Vanishing Points: Law, Violence and Exception in the Global War Prison. The talk, one of the Solomon Katz Distinguished Lectures in the Humanities, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in 120 Kane.
During his week at UW, Gregory will teach a micro seminar for graduate students titled “New Wars? Terror, Military Violence and Performances of Space.” On Oct. 26, He will participate in a roundtable discussion: “The Work of Area Studies in the Age of Pre-Emptive War.” (Check calendar listings or call the Simpson Center for specifics: 206-543-3920).
Gregory has written more than a dozen books, including The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq (Blackwell Publishers, 2004) and Geographical Imaginations (Blackwell Publishers, 1993).
Much of Gregory’s work following the Sept. 11 disaster focuses on the long history of British and American involvement in the Middle East. He has analyzed how the remaining traces of colonial practice continue to shape that part of the world.
