"That Obscure Object of Morality” with Didier Fassin

"That Obscure Object of Morality”

The Walker Institute of International and Area Studies is pleased to present "That Obscure Object of Morality” by our featured speaker, Didier Fassin, an anthropologist, sociologist and physician, and a Professor at the Collège de France.

Anthropologists have long been reluctant with regard to the study of morality, fearing that it would be vitiated by the projection of their own values. The word “moral” is indeed simultaneously and ambiguously descriptive and normative. Yet, in recent years, a rich field of research has developed, mainly in the alternative form of a Durkheimian approach to moral codes inspired by the ethics of duty and a Foucauldian interpretation of moral subjectivation inherited from the ethics of virtue.

The lecture will analyze the emergence of these new objects in the study of social life, its resonance with changes in public discourses, and the discussions to which it gave rise.

But a distinct, critical framework will be presented, questioning both the normative dimension of the word “moral”, so as to open to all values and emotions independently of prior evaluation of their merit, and the consistency of the domain of “morality”, considering that what is observable are instead moral issues linked to historical circumstances, cultural sensitivities, social mobilizations, and political stakes.

Case studies from various research in France, South Africa, and the Middle East on humanitarianism, trauma, immigration, policing, punishment, and violence will serve to reflect on concepts of moral sentiments and moral economies, and on their heuristic significance to apprehend some of the difficult questions of our time.

This event is hosted by the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences.

Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. The program will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is suggested.

About the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies

The Walker Institute delivers global perspectives and solutions through academic programs, research and community events. By studying international regions and a host of events on wide-ranging global themes, you’ll learn how to understand and shape our interconnected world.

About Dr. Didier Fassin

Didier Fassin is a Professor at the Collège de France on the chair Moral Questions and Political Issues in Contemporary Societies, Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Anthropologist, sociologist and physician, he conducted research in Senegal, South Africa, Ecuador, and France, focusing on moral and political issues. Recipient of the Gold Medal in anthropology in Sweden, the Nomis Distinguished Scientist Award in Switzerland and the Huxley Memorial Medal in Britain, he is a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was vice-president of Doctors Without Borders and president of the French Medical Committee for Exiles. He authored twenty-five books, translated in twelve languages, and edited or coedited thirty collective volumes.