Date
10-7-2026
Description
The 2026 Ambedkar Law Lectures focus on how modern structural inequality, global capitalism, and state-sanctioned policies work to render impoverished populations socio-politically invisible — effectively making them "disappear" from public space and political consideration. By integrating political science, legal theory, and sociology, Dean Amaney A. Jamal examines the specific mechanisms that entrench this marginalization across the globe.
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Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | Human Rights Law | Law | Public Policy
Recommended Citation
Amaney A. Jamal, Olatunde C. Johnson & Frédéric Mégret,
The Global Disappearance of the Poor: Racialization, Segregation, and Poverty,
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/ambedkar_law_lectures/5
2026 Ambedkar Law Lectures Program
Details
Location: Jerome Green Hall, Room 104
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Length: 1:44:57
About the Lecturer:
Amaney A. Jamal
Dean, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Amaney A. Jamal is Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics, and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. She is the former Director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. Jamal directs the Workshop on Arab Political Development and the Bobst Center-American University of Beirut Collaborative Initiative.
Her book, "Barriers to Democracy" (2007), which explores the role of civic associations in promoting democratic effects in the Arab world, won the 2008 American Political Science Best Book Award in the Comparative Democratization section. Her other books include "Of Empires and Citizens" and her co-edited volume "Arab Americans Before and After 9/11." She also has a forthcoming book, “Global Disappearance of the Poor." Jamal’s articles have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Comparative Politics, Perspectives on Politics, International Migration Review, and other venues. Her article “Does Islam Play a Role in Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: An Experimental Approach,” in Social Science Research 2015 won the 2016 Louis Wirth Best Article Award: American Sociological Association, International Migration Section.
Jamal is the co-founder and co-principal Investigator of the Arab Barometer Project (Winner of the Best Dataset in the Field of Comparative Politics (Lijphart/Przeworski/Verba Dataset Award 2010), and has secured over $5 million in grants for this and other projects from the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, National Science Foundation (NSF), NSF: Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences, Qatar National Research Fund, United States Institute of Peace, the International Development Research Centre, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Henry Luce Foundation.
In 2006, Jamal was named a Carnegie Scholar. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (2003). Her areas of specialization are the Middle East and North Africa, mass and political behavior, political development and democratization, inequality and economic segregation, Muslim immigration (U.S. and Europe), gender, race, religion, and class.
About the Commentators:
Olatunde Johnson
Ruth Bader Ginsburg '59 Professor of Law
Known for her distinguished scholarship in civil procedure, legislation, and anti-discrimination law, Olatunde Johnson is equally committed to cultivating the next generation of civic-minded lawyers. In the classroom, Johnson draws on her background in legal practice and government service to illustrate how social change can be effected through litigation as well as problem-solving outside the courtroom.
Johnson’s research has helped shape the national conversation on modern civil rights legislation, anti-discrimination, fair housing, congressional power, and innovations to address discrimination and inequality. Her recent work examines state and local governments’ efforts to enhance opportunities for historically excluded groups as well as the conflicts that arise when states preempt local efforts to address discrimination and promote wage increases and affordable housing. Together with a group of students, Johnson produced Through the Gale, the 2022 podcast that explored the role of lawyers in the struggle for multiracial democracy.
Nearly a decade after she joined the Columbia Law School faculty, in 2006, Johnson was appointed vice dean for Intellectual Life for the 2016–2018 term. In that role, she organized a wide range of events designed to engage the Law School community, from a Lawyers, Community, and Impact panel on recent developments in U.S. law and politics to a roundtable discussion on integration in America, faculty film series, and a book talk.
Frédéric Mégret
Professor of Law, Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law, McGill University
Frédéric Mégret is a Professor of Law and the holder of the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law. Previously he was a William Dawson Scholar from 2015 to 2023, and the holder of the Canada Research Chair on the Law of Human Rights and Legal Pluralism from 2006 to 2015. In 2024-25, Professor Mégret was the James S. Carpentier Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School.
In November 2022, Professor Mégret received an honorary doctorate from the University of Copenhagen in recognition of his work in international law. He was named to the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law for a seven-year term, starting 1 September 2023.
Professor Mégret is currently co-authoring a book on Diasporas and International Law with Larissa van den Herik (Leiden University). He is the co-editor with Philip Alston of "The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal" (Oxford University Press, 2020); with Immi Tallgren of "The Dawn of a Discipline: International Criminal Justice and its Early Exponents" (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and, with Kevin Jon Heller, Sarah Nouwen, Jens David Ohlin and Darryl Robinson of "The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law" (Oxford University Press, 2020). He is also the author of "Le Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda" (Pedone, 2002).