Fall 2026 Colloquium: Ida Susser

The Enigma of the Yellow Vests and what they might tell us about the US

Thursday, September 17, 2026 4:30 PM EDT
The event will be livestreamed by GMU-TV

Ida Susser, Distinguished Professor of anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, has conducted ethnographic research in the U.S., Southern Africa, Puerto Rico, Spain, and France, with a focus on urban social movements and the urban commons, gender, the global AIDS epidemic, and environmental movements.

Her latest book is The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy (2026).

The talk will outline the emergence of the Yellow Vests as they confronted austerity in France in 2018. It asks how they changed the politics of France and what the US might learn from them.