Didier Fassin

Didier Fassin
James D. Wolfensohn Professor
School of Social Science

Didier Fassin's body of work is situated at the intersection of the theoretical and ethnographic foundations of the main areas of anthropology—social, cultural, political, medical. Trained as a medical doctor, Fassin has conducted field studies in Senegal, Ecuador, South Africa, and France, leading to publications that have illuminated important aspects of urban and maternal health, public health policy, social disparities in health, and the AIDS epidemic. He recently turned to a new area that he calls "critical moral anthropology." He argues that morality should be treated as a legitimate object of study for anthropologists and analyzed in its political contexts. From this perspective, his work has been concerned with the "politics of compassion," namely, the various ways in which inequality has been redefined as "suffering," violence reformulated as "trauma," and military interventions qualified as "humanitarian." Fassin is the author of seven books, including When Bodies Remember. Experiences and Politics of AIDS in South Africa (2007) and The Empire of Trauma. An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood (2009), as well as numerous articles in social science and medical journals.

Université de Paris VI, M.D., 1982; Ecole des Hautes Études en Science Sociales (EHESS), Ph.D., Social Science, 1988; Hôpitaux de Paris, Internship, 1979–84, 1986–87; National Institute for Health Research (INSERM), Senegal, Junior Researcher, 1984–86; Hospital Pitié-Salpétrière, Assistant Professor in Infectious Diseases and Public Health, 1987–89; French Institute for Research in the Andes (IFEA), Ecuador, Senior Researcher, 1989–91; University of Paris Nord, Assistant Professor, 1991–97, Professor, 1997–2009; École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales, Director of Studies, 1999–; Médecins Sans Frontières, Administrator, 1999–2001, Vice President, 2001–03; Comité medical pour les exilés, President, 2005–; Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux (IRIS), Founding Director, 2007–; Institute for Advanced Study, James D. Wolfensohn Professor, 2009–.