Robert A. Williams, Jr., the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, will speak on “Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization,” the topic of his most recent book, at the fall opening luncheon of the Brandeis National Committee Tucson Chapter on Monday, Oct. 21.
A member of the Lumbee Indian Tribe of North Carolina, Williams is a graduate of Loyola College and Harvard Law School. He has received awards from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Soros Foundation Open Society Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Institute of Justice in recognition of his research and advocacy on behalf of Indian tribes and indigenous peoples before the United Nations and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others.
Among Williams’other books is “The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest,” which received the Gustavus Meyers Human Rights Center Award as one of the outstanding books published in 1990 on the subject of prejudice in the United States.
Williams is the son-in-law of BNC Tucson Chapter past president Libby Fischer, notes Meg Sivitz, vice president of the chapter’s book business, who adds that his emphasis on social justice is in keeping with “the ideals of Brandeis University and Louis Brandeis himself.”
The event will honor Sorale “Sorkey” Fortman, an active member of the BNC Tucson Chapter for the past 20 years (see https://azjewishpost.com/ ?p=23871).
The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hacienda del Sol, 5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road. The cost is $30. Proceeds will benefit the “Sustaining the Mind” program of neuroscience research and scholarships at Brandeis University. Donations of hygiene products and school supplies for Youth on Their Own will be collected. To RSVP, send a check payable to BNC by Oct. 14 to Arlene Zuckerman, 5448 N. Paseo del Sonoyta, Tucson, AZ 85750.
