Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

About the speaker

Robert Franklin Barsky

Professor of French, English and Jewish Studies
Professor of Law

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

Robert Barsky works at the intersection of language studies, literature and law, with applications to border crossings, language theory, radical American milieus, and literatures of the 19th and 20th centuries in English and French. He is the author or editor of numerous books on narrative and law, including Undocumented Immigrants in an Era of Arbitrary Law: The Flight and Plight of Peoples’ Deemed ‘Illegal’ (2016); Arguing and Justifying: Assessing the Convention Refugees’ Choice of Moment, Motive and Host Country (2000); Constructing a Productive Other: Discourse Theory and the Convention Refugee Hearing (1994). His works on radical theory and practice include Zellig Harris: From American Linguistics to Socialist Zionism (2011); The Chomsky Effect: A Radical Works beyond the Ivory Tower (2007) and Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent (1997). He is the founding editor of the border crossing journal AmeriQuests, the founding editor of Discours social/Social Discourse, and the co-director, with Daniel Gervais, of the Literature and Law Seminar at Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center. He has been a visiting professor at a number of universities worldwide, including Yale University; the University of Northampton; the Institute for Advanced Studies, Toulouse, France; and the Law School of VU University Amsterdam. During summer 2016, he will be in residence at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.

Related content

Robert Barsky External

Contact

For any enquiries about this event, please contact Susanna Power at vfp@qeh.ox.ac.uk.

Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture

The Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture is held in Trinity term. It is named after Professor Elizabeth Colson, a renowned anthropologist.

Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture

The Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture is named in honour of Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond, the founding Director of the Refugee Studies Centre. It is held each year in Michaelmas term.

Public Seminar Series

Each term the RSC holds a series of public seminars, held on Wednesday evenings at Queen Elizabeth House. Click here for details of forthcoming seminars.

Connect with us

To keep up to date with our events and activities, sign up for email alerts from the RSC and Forced Migration Review, and connect with us on social media.

Forthcoming events

Supply Chain Justice: The Logistics of British Border Control

Wednesday, 19 February 2025, 5pm to 6pm @ Seminar Room 1, Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB

Scattered: The making and unmaking of a refugee. A conversation with Aamna Mohdin

Wednesday, 26 February 2025, 5pm to 6pm @ Seminar Room 1, Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB

The Politics of Immigration and the Politics of Identity | Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture 2025

Wednesday, 05 March 2025, 5.15pm to 6.15pm @ Grove Theatre, Magdalen College, Oxford. Please use Octagon Gate entrance, located on Longwall Street side entrance to Magdalen College

Book Launch and Panel Event | Social Science: A Very Short Introduction

Thursday, 06 March 2025, 5pm to 6pm @ Harold Lee Room, Pembroke College, Pembroke Square St Aldates Oxford OX1 1DW

Book talk: The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora

Tuesday, 11 March 2025, 5pm to 6pm @ Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Anthony’s College, 62 Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6JF

'Wicked' Challenges in Migration Management: Weaponization, Politicization, and Hostile Influence Operations

Wednesday, 12 March 2025, 5pm to 6pm @ Seminar Room 1, Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB