VLDB 2021: Panel
Date: 17Aug
Talk by Gisèle Sapiro (CNRS, EHESS)
Abstract:
The question of the relationship between an author’s ethics and their work is not new. Ethics has
become a growing concern for science. Since the feminist and civil right movements, increasing
attention has been paid to sexual harassment and discrimination in academia as in other
institutions. Should authors who misbehaved or expressed racist or sexist opinions be cancelled?
Should they be sanctioned or can they be rewarded for their intellectual, artistic or scientific
achievements? While some argue that they should be cancelled, or at least not rewarded, others
contend that the work should be dissociated from its author. But is it possible?
Based on her book on this topic (Peut-on dissocier l’oeuvre de l’auteur, 2020), Gisèle Sapiro,
professor in sociology at Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales and research director at the
CNRS, will propose an analysis of the debate, and discuss some cases of scandals, from Heidegger to
Polanski and Handke, including some reflections on the one which surrounded Jeffrey Ullman’s Turing
award.
Bio:
Gisèle Sapiro is a leading sociologist of literature, translation and intellectual life. She is
research director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and professor at the
L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), both in Paris. She is the
author of La Guerre des écrivains, 1940-1953 (1999; English transl.: French Writers’ War, Duke UP,
2014), among many other publications.
Date: 19Aug
Panelist: Rachel Pottinger
Panelist: Arun Kumar
Panelist: Johannes Gehrke
Panelist: Jana Giceva