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Faculty Colloquium Series: Richard Golsan (INTS) 3/31/20

“The Barbie Trial: French Humanism, Tiermondisme and the Meaning of Justice” In compliance with recommendations surrounding COVID-19, our Colloquium Series is being moved online for the remainder of the semester. Zoom Meeting information: Meeting ID: 221 538 346 Join Zoom Meeting https://tamu.zoom.us/j/221538346 Dr. Richard Golsan International Studies, 2019-2020 Glasscock Internal Faculty Residential Fellow Abstract: The 1987 trial […]

“The Barbie Trial: French Humanism, Tiermondisme and the Meaning of Justice”

In compliance with recommendations surrounding COVID-19, our Colloquium Series is being moved online for the remainder of the semester.

Zoom Meeting information:
Meeting ID: 221 538 346

Join Zoom Meeting
https://tamu.zoom.us/j/221538346

Dr. Richard Golsan
International Studies, 2019-2020 Glasscock Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

Abstract:
The 1987 trial in Lyon, France of Nazi SS Lieutenant Klaus Barbie, known as the “Butcher of Lyon” was the first trial involving charges of crimes against humanity in French history. An international media sensation at the time, the trial has nevertheless never been the subject of an exhaustive historical study in any language, in part because the notoriety of the accused overshadowed his own trial, and in part because the French Assize court is conducted in such a fashion as to reduce the drama and spectacle of the trial itself. Nevertheless, the Barbie trial was marked in its final arguments before the court by a dramatic confrontation of worldviews that in essence pitted a vision of justice derived from the French Classical tradition against a tiermondiste or “Third World” vision that rejected a Eurocentric “white man’s justice’ in favor of a perspective that took colonial violence and oppression into account. This essay will examine in depth the strategies and theoretical framing the defense and prosecution arguments during the trial, and why the former eventually won out.


The Faculty Colloquium offers faculty an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.

The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.

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