February 12, 2007

Prominent sociologist Troy Duster to speak February 22

Troy Duster, one of the nation’s most prominent sociologists, with research interests in the sociology of science, public policy, race and ethnicity and deviance, will speak February 22 as part of Crown College’s 40th anniversary celebration.

Troy Duster

His talk will take place at 4 p.m. in the Cultural Center at Merrill College.

The author of Backdoor to Eugenics and The Legislation of Morality, Duster is a Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley and professor of sociology and director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge at New York University.

Duster has expressed concern that the nation is rushing into the emerging science of human genomics and applied technologies of human genetic screening, gene therapy, and genetic enhancement. He has cautioned against a return of the biological determinism he fears might resurrect old race mythologies.

His talk at is titled, “A Post-Genomic Surprise: The Molecular Reinscription of Race in Clinical Medicine and Forensic Science.”