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February 28, 2003

Media Contact: Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684, or jnjennings@ucsd.edu

French Philosopher to discuss U.S. – European Relations at UCSD

A distinguished French political philosopher, author, and professor will discuss the state of European and United States relations at 4 p.m. March 10 in Robinson Auditorium at the University of California, San Diego.
Etienne Balibar, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Paris X, will speak on The United States and the European Union: Power and Weakness. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.

Balibar is credited as one of the significant contributors to the rethinking of European Marxism in the 1960s, coauthoring Lire ‘le Capital with Louis Althusser in 1968 (published in English as Reading Capital in 1979). In Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities (1991), coauthored with Immanual Wallerstein, Balibar explored the political philosophical study of nationalism, race, and social identity.

The philosopher’s thoughts on the politics of universalism and difference in western Europe and modern democratic societies appear in such books as Masses, Classes, Ideas: On Politics and Philosophy Before and After Marx (1994) and Spinoza and Politics (1998). Balibar’s most recent book, Politics and the Other Scene (2002), treats urgent political questions confronted by the international public at the beginning of the 21st century.

Balibar now serves as a visiting professor each winter term at UC Irvine.
Balibar’s UCSD visit and lecture are presented by the Department of Literature and cosponsored by the Center for the Humanities, the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies-European Studies Initiative, and the Departments of Ethnic Studies, Sociology, and Communication. For information, contact the Department of Literature at (858) 534-4618.