April 17, 2008
Walls between nations analyzed in April 22 lecture
Porous Sovereignty, Walled Democracy is the title of a lecture by Wendy Brown, Solomon Katz Distinguished Lecturer in the Humanities, slated for Tuesday, April 22.
Brown, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, will address the curious phenomenon that finds nation-states building physical walls at their borders. In an ostensibly connected global world, Brown believes, such walls raise a series of questions:
- What is the relationship between these walls and the erosion of national sovereignty by transnational forces?
- Do the walls assert sovereignty or confess its failures?
- What is the relationship of economy and security at the site of walls?
- What transformation in democracy do the new walls herald?
Brown is the author of numerous influential books, including Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Empire and Identity (2006), Politics Out of History (2001), and States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity (1995). Known for her subtle and sophisticated interpretations of political theory and practice, her work elucidates the contemporary knots tying subordination and freedom, exclusion and equality, markets and democracy, state institutions and social movements.
The talk is at 7 p.m. in 120 Kane. It is free and open to the public.
The Solomon Katz Distinguished Lectures in the Humanities series was established by private donors to recognize distinguished scholars in the humanities and to emphasize the role of the humanities in liberal education. For more information visit www.simpsoncenter.org/katz.
