Didier Fassin - Death of a Traveller

1 Cover

2 Title Page Death of a Traveller A Counter-Investigation Didier Fassin Translated by Rachel Gomme polity

3 Copyright

4 Dedication

5 Endorsement

6 Acknowledgments

7 A Simple Story: Preface to the English Edition

8 Terminological Note

9 Preamble

10 Prologue

11 I The Father

12 II The First Officer

13 III The Mother

14 IV The Second Officer

15 V The Doctor

16 VI The Sister

17 VII The Prosecutor

18 VIII The Journalist

19 IX Dignity

20 X Campaign

21 XI Mourning

22 XII Biography

23 XIII Investigation

24 XIV Dismissal

25 XV Truth

26 XVI Lies

27 XVII Reconstruction

28 XVIII That Day

29 Epilogue

30 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Title Page

4 Copyright

5 Dedication

6 Endorsement

7 Acknowledgments

8 A Simple Story: Preface to the English Edition

9 Terminological Note

10 Preamble

11 Prologue

12 Begin Reading

13 Epilogue

14 End User License Agreement

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Didier Fassin

Translated by Rachel Gomme

polity

First published in French as Mort d’un voyageur: une contre-enquête © Seuil 2020

First published in English in 2021 by Polity Press

Copyright © Didier Fassin 2021

The right of Didier Fassin to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Polity Press

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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4742-5

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Fassin, Didier, author.

Title: Death of a traveller: a counter investigation / Didier Fassin; translated by Rachel Gomme.

Other titles: Mort d’un voyageur. English

Description: Medford : Polity Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “A leading anthropologist shows how the police and the justice system work against marginalized communities”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020046192 (print) | LCCN 2020046193 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509547401 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509547418 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509547425 (epub) | ISBN 9781509548071 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Discrimination in criminal justice administration--France--Case studies. | Romanies--Crimes against. | Homicide--France--Case studies. | Police shootings--France--Case studies. | Romanies--France--Social conditions. | Minorities--Crimes against--France | Minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.--France.

Classification: LCC HV9960.F8 F3713 2021 (print) | LCC HV9960.F8 (ebook) | DDC 364.152092--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046192LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046193

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

For Angelo’s sister, for his parents, and for all those who fight for truth and justice on behalf of the ones injured or killed by the police

The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.

Djalâl al-Dîn Muhammad Rûmî

The more affects we are able to put into words about a thing, the more eyes, various eyes we are able to use for the same thing, the more complete will be our ‘concept’ of the thing, our ‘objectivity’.

Friedrich Nietzsche

This project would not have been undertaken without the collaboration of Angelo’s family. I am profoundly grateful for the trust they placed in me throughout my work and for the integrity they showed, in spite of the pain this story still aroused in them more than two years after the tragedy. My thanks are also due to the other people involved in this case, particularly in the Justice and Truth Collective. I am equally indebted to the lawyers and magistrates who gave me the benefit of their insight and their skill as well as their view of the victim, the events that led to his death and the judicial procedure that followed, and in particular to the public prosecutor who generously granted me access to the case file. Having chosen to maintain the anonymity of the protagonists and not to name the places where they live and work, I cannot express my gratitude to them by name.

The research on which this book is based was supported by funds from the NOMIS Foundation within the context of a research program I designed around the theme of crisis. The warm welcome this unconventional project received from Séverine Nikel at Le Seuil, before even a single line had been written, played an important role in my decision to carry it through, and our subsequent discussions helped me to clarify my position in this experimental writing. It is a pleasure for me to have it now published by Polity, and I am thankful to John Thompson for having fast-tracked its publication. The translation made by Rachel Gomme is once more remarkable for its attentiveness to the slightest semantic inflections in the text. And Munirah Bishop’s help has been, as always, precious.