Race, Law, and the American State: An Interdisciplinary Symposium

--> From the University of Michigan Program in Race, Law, and History, we have the following event announcement:

Race, Law, and the American State: An Interdisciplinary Symposium

April 26, 2014

1070 South Hall, University of Michigan Law School

Attention to the role of the state in producing racial knowledge, creating racial identities, policing racial boundaries, and distributing resources unequally across racial categories, are just some of the topics currently flourishing in the fields of history, legal studies, and American political development. And new theories of the interaction of race, law, and the state are proliferating at an extraordinary rate. This one-day interdisciplinary symposium will take a close look at new work currently defining the fields at the intersection of Race, Law, and the American State. Our goal is to produce a future research and writing agenda collaboratively.

Matt Lassiter, Associate Professor of History and of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan

Bill Novak, Charles F. and Edith J. Clyne Professor of Law and codirector of the Program in Race, Law & History, University of Michigan Law School

The sessions below are open to the public:

8:15 a.m. Coffee and continental breakfast  

9:00 a.m. Panel I: Historians and the Racial State 

Moderator: Matt Lassiter, University of Michigan 

Nathan Connolly, Johns Hopkins University 

Martha Jones, University of Michigan 

Heather Thompson, Temple University 

Paul Kramer, Vanderbilt University

11:15 a.m. Panel II: Race and American Political Development

Moderator: Mariah Zeisberg, University of Michigan

Commenter: Robert Lieberman, Johns Hopkins University 

Dan HoSang, University of Oregon 

Joe Lowndes, University of Oregon

1:00 p.m. Lunch (provided)

2:15 p.m. Panel III: New Theories of the State 

Moderator: Bill Novak, University of Michigan 

Gary Gerstle, Vanderbilt University 

Stephen Sawyer, American University