UB Professor to Speak On African Immigration to France

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Judy Scales-Trent, professor of law at the University at Buffalo, will discuss "African Immigration to France: Family and Gender Issues" at a lecture co-sponsored by the Alliance Française de Buffalo and the UB Law School.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be presented at 8 p.m. April 16 in 109 O’Brian Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

"When immigrating to France, many African families bring their cultural and social practices with them: Muslim headscarf, genital excision, dowry, polygamy, repudiation," says Olivia Arditi, president of the alliance. "In France, however, some of these social practices are illegal."

Scales-Trent recently spent a month in France exploring the lives of immigrant African women in the country. She will discuss the differences in the concepts of gender inequalities and race in France and in the United States, and will present an overview of some of the legal, social and cultural realities that face African women in France today.

For more information, call 838-9774.