BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.6.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1906@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260820T095551 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261021T161500 SUMMARY:When liberal anti-racism is not enough: thinking from UK's slavery laws about authoritarian state making across the metropole DESCRIPTION:AbstractIn this talk\, I plead for an anthropology of law attun ed to the analytical and political challenges of an increasingly authorita rian climate in liberal constitutional settings. Drawing on my book\, Drug s\, Race\, and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law (to be published with OU P in February 2026)\, I examine a new precedent in the making—namely\, t he application of UK ‘slavery laws’ to manage and punish its marginali sed working-class and racialised populations. Originally conceived in the context of debates around international human trafficking\, the Modern Sla very Act 2015 became ‘domesticated’ as police and the courts\, over th e last ten years\, have applied it to those at the bottom rung of the stre et-level drugs economy within the country’s borders. Drawing on ethnogra phy with police\, the courts\, and crucially the families affected\, and s ituating this within histories of empire and their afterlives\, I reflect on how a juridical project in the making has become a political project\, as logics of liberal saviourism and the image of ‘slave and ‘slave mas ter’ have been projected onto the bodies of Black working class youth. I n what ways has juridical victimhood become a site for the remaking of pol itical statecraft in times of liberal and economic crisis? How do attempts to work against the liberal anti-racist grain become weaponised by unexpe cted publics\, generating backlash from both far-right and liberal audienc es? To what extent are my ethnographic observations and their reception in dicative of a liberal legal crisis in European metropoles writ large? And what chllenges do they pose for the anthropologist of law to reconceive of ethnography not just as analytical work but as a form of political labour ?BioInsa Lee Koch is Professor for British Cultures at the HSG St. Gallen. She is an interdisciplinary scholar who works ethnographically and collab oratively on questions of intersecting inequalities\, political economy an d the state. X-ALT-DESC:

Abstract
In this talk\, I plead for an anthrop ology of law attuned to the analytical and political challenges of an incr easingly authoritarian climate in liberal constitutional settings. Drawing on my book\, Drugs\, Race\, and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law (to be published with OUP in February 2026)\, I examine a new precedent in the m aking—namely\, the application of UK ‘slavery laws’ to manage and pu nish its marginalised working-class and racialised populations. Originally conceived in the context of debates around international human traffickin g\, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 became ‘domesticated’ as police and th e courts\, over the last ten years\, have applied it to those at the botto m rung of the street-level drugs economy within the country’s borders. D rawing on ethnography with police\, the courts\, and crucially the familie s affected\, and situating this within histories of empire and their after lives\, I reflect on how a juridical project in the making has become a po litical project\, as logics of liberal saviourism and the image of ‘slav e and ‘slave master’ have been projected onto the bodies of Black work ing class youth. In what ways has juridical victimhood become a site for t he remaking of political statecraft in times of liberal and economic crisi s? How do attempts to work against the liberal anti-racist grain become we aponised by unexpected publics\, generating backlash from both far-right a nd liberal audiences? To what extent are my ethnographic observations and their reception indicative of a liberal legal crisis in European metropole s writ large? And what chllenges do they pose for the anthropologist of la w to reconceive of ethnography not just as analytical work but as a form o f political labour?

Bio
Insa Lee K och is Professor for British Cultures at the HSG St. Gallen. She is an interdisci plinary scholar who works ethnographically and collaboratively on question s of intersecting inequalities\, political economy and the state. DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261021T180000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR