Mitchell Duneier from Princeton University will visit campus April 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, Klarman Hall, to talk about his book, “Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, The History of an Idea.”

“Mitch’s visit and the topic of his talk are vital to the kind of work Cornell’s Jewish studies program is doing,” said Jonathan Boyarin, the Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies. “His book demonstrates the links between an older history of Jewish life in Europe, the experience of early 20th-century immigrants, and African-American life in the 20th century and beyond.”

Boyarin said he and colleague Elissa Sampson, a visiting scholar in the Jewish Studies Program, learned about Duneier’s new book just as they were publishing an article about the Frankfurt ghetto “that served as a touchstone for sociologist Louis Worth’s analysis of what he called the Jewish ‘ghetto’ on Chicago’s south side.”

Duneier is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology and chair of the sociology department at Princeton. “Ghetto,” his most recent book, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2016. The book traces the idea of the ghetto from its beginnings in the 16th century, its revival by the Nazis to the present day looks at the ghettos of Europe to understand race, poverty and American urban problems. He is also the author of the award-winning urban ethnographies “Slim’s Table” and “Sidewalk.”

The lecture is sponsored by the Cornell Jewish Studies Program; Department of Sociology; Africana studies; American Studies Program; Center for Population Studies; City and Regional Planning; and the Center for the Study of Inequality.

“The range of units co-sponsoring this event similarly points to the wide importance of his topic, which concerns all who are interested in questions of community and difference,” Boyarin said.

The lecture is free and open to the public, followed by a reception.

Yvette Lisa Ndlovu is a communications assistant for the College of Arts and Sciences.