Critical Intent April 18

Harold F. Linder Professor Alondra Nelson offered welcome and introductory remarks, discussing the history of social science inquiry at IAS and Professor Didier Fassin's role in the School of Social Science.

Speakers: Mara Viveros Vigoya, Bernard Harcourt, Axel Honneth, Wendy Brown (moderator)

This panel examined the theoretical and methodological transformations generated by Fassin’s work across moral anthropology, public health, migration studies, and critical theory. How does foregrounding moral economies and ethical life reconfigure social scientific inquiry? Panelists explored how ethnographic description of inequality and violence constitutes critical intervention, challenging institutional logics and reshaping disciplinary frameworks.

Speakers: Lorenzo Alunni, Valeria Añón, Chowra Makaremi, Nadia Marzouki, Miriam Ticktin, Anne-Claire Defossez (moderator)

How are critical frameworks transmitted, adapted, and transformed across intellectual generations? This panel examined the impact of Fassin’s conceptual innovations, from moral economies to the politics of life, as they travel through diverse empirical, linguistic, and institutional contexts. Panelists traced how scholarly engagement with sites such as policing, refugee governance, and healthcare extends and challenges foundational empirical and theoretical commitments.

PHOTOS FROM APRIL 18