Death of a Traveller

Didier Fassin is the James D. Wolfensohn Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.

• AcknowledgmentsA Simple Story. Preface to the English EditionTerminological NotePreamblePrologueI. The FatherII. The First OfficerIII. The MotherIV. The Second OfficerV. The DoctorVI. The SisterVII. The ProsecutorVIII. The JournalistIX. DignityX. CampaignXI. MourningXII. BiographyXIII. InvestigationXIV. DismissalXV. TruthXVI. LiesXVII. ReconstructionXVIII. That DayEpilogue

“Fassin, a sociologist and anthropologist, aims to supplement the approaches of activists and of the justice system in confronting police violence, and scrutinizes the evidence with an emphasis on its socioeconomic context. To do otherwise, he argues, impedes both truth and human dignity.”The New Yorker“In seeking to do justice to yet another young life, another racialized suspect, snuffed out in the name of public order, Fassin provides a stunning indictment of a new moral economy: a culture of institutional duplicity that allows police to get away with murder.”Jean Comaroff, Harvard University“How can an account of a controversial killing do justice to it sociologically and according to the laws of the land, and at the same time politically and humanely? This is the multifaceted conundrum addressed by this beautifully written and meticulously crafted book. A riveting must-read for all those concerned by the broader meaning of death at the hands of the police, in France and in other countries.”Dame Caroline Humphrey, University of Cambridge