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Colin Dayan Dialogue

colin dayan

The English Department presents Colin Dayan's dialogue on October 12th at 4:30 PM at the Center for British and Irish Studies Room in Norlin Library.

What kind of legal history might account for the unique and continued practice of forfeiture in the United States? Your property is guilty until you prove it innocent. With civil forfeiture, owners do not have to be charged with a crime, let alone be convicted, to lose homes, cars, cash--or dogs.

Colin Dayan examines the generally invisible nexus of animality, human marginalization, and judicial authority to analyze how legal reasoning has historically contributed to literal expropriation.

Over the past ten years, Colin Dayan has written widely on prison rights, the legalities of torture, canine profiling, animal law, and the racial contours of US practices of punishment for The Boston Review, The New York Times, The London Review of Books, and Al Jazeera America, where Dayan is a contributing editor.


The Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. All CU Boulder faculty and students are eligible to apply. If you are interested in applying for a CWCTP faculty grant, deadlines are rolling throughout the year.