Grace Holt Lecture

Our invited speaker, Princeton Professor of Anthropology Dr. Laurence Ralph, will lead the lecture.

Between 1972 and 1991, at least 125 black suspects were tortured by Chicago police officers working under former Police Commander John Burge. This talk bears witness to police violence that began in Burge’s precinct and then follows the city’s networks of torture to the global War on Terror. Being considered the enemy, and then being purposefully tormented because of it—this is what connects all of the survivors of torture in this study, from the Black Chicagoans Dr. Ralph will discuss to former Guantánamo detainees. In drawing these vulnerable populations together, this talk is anchored in an examination of how people understand themselves to be living with a wider history of police violence.

Books will be available for purchase.