Stern Center, Great Room, 5 p.m.

By the Power Vested in Me

A Book Talk by Author Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer ’04

In both the United States and France, each side of the legal battle over same-sex marriage and parenthood relied heavily on experts. Despite the similarity of issues, however, lawmakers in each country turned to different sets of authorities: from economists and psychoanalysts to priests and ordinary people. They even prized different types of expertise – empirical research in the United States versus abstract theory in France.

Through the story of the fight over gay rights, By the Power Vested in Me reveals how and why certain experts – but not others – obtain the authority to shape public opinion and policy. At a time of soaring public distrust in experts, this book offers new ways to understand the contested political role of expertise and its consequences.

This program is sponsored by the departments of French & Francophone studies, sociology and women’s, gender & sexuality studies, the LGBTQ+ Center and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer is a sociologist and associate professor of American Studies at the University of Toulouse. He is also a junior member at the Institut Universitaire de France.

For more information visit https://www.dickinson.edu/events/event/31108/michael_stambolis-ruhstorfer_04_book_talk