Intersections of Law and Culture
Conference Archives
Intersections of Law and Culture 2011
Franklin College
via Ponte Tresa 29
6924 Sorengo (Lugano)
Switzerland
Tel: +41 91 986 36 13
Fax: +41 91 993 39 06
Lugano, CH
September 23, 2011 – September 25, 2011
A cross-disciplinary conference hosted by the Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Franklin College Switzerland
September 23 - 25, 2011 in Lugano, Switzerland
Submission of abstracts accepted until March 31, 2011
Keynote Speakers
Sidonie Smith
Martha Guernsey Colby Collegiate Professor of Women's Studies and English, University of Michigan
Peter Rosenblum
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein Clinical Professor of Human Rights Law at Columbia Law School
Intersections of Law and Culture aims to investigate law’s place in culture and culture’s place in law. This focus proceeds from the twin premise that law, itself a cultural form, reacts to and is shaped by the cultural context in which it operates and that culture in turn is shaped by the regulative forces of law. Moreover, the operations of law—its processes and decisions—have entered the realm of popular culture, media and the arts as plot devices and narratives used in sit-coms, films and pulp fiction. These in turn have begun to change the way law operates. Together law and culture help to determine the ways in which we inhabit both our local contexts and the global stage.
The focus of this second Intersections of Law and Culture conference is on human rights. What are the philosophical, literary and cultural points of references for the management of human rights? How have current notions and framings developed historically? What are the mechanisms by which cultural narratives and popular representations of human rights find their way into legal processes? How does law in turn bleed into and influence cultural practices and conceptions of human rights? What is the relationship between international efforts and framings of human rights and their local implementations?
Clearly there are no simple, monolithic answers to these complex questions: a dialogue concerning the effects of the interplay between law and other forms of knowledge in the area of human rights can only proceed from a genuinely interdisciplinary point of departure. We welcome papers and panels from all cultural contexts and disciplinary perspectives, as well as from music and the arts. We envision the groupings of the papers not so much as distinct streams but as an interconnected matrix that acknowledges the overlap and mutual influence of modes of knowledge.
Organizers
Sara Steinert Borella
Dean of the College and Professor, Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Franklin College Switzerland
Caroline Wiedmer
Professor and Chair, Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Franklin College Switzerland
Advisory Board
Dave Cowan
Professor of Law and Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Bristol University, Great Britain
Lieve Gies
Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester, Great Britain
Gianni D’Amato
Professor of Migration and Citizenship Studies, and Director of the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Brigitte Schnegg
Professor of History and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies, University of Berne, Switzerland
For more information contact:
Caroline Wiedmer
cwiedmer@fc.edu
Intersections of Law and Culture 2009
Franklin College
via Ponte Tresa 29
6924 Sorengo (Lugano)
Switzerland
Tel: +41 91 986 36 13
Fax: +41 91 993 39 06
Lugano, CH
October 2, 2009 – October 4, 2009
A cross-disciplinary conference hosted by the Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Franklin College Switzerland
October 2 - 4, 2009 in Lugano, Switzerland
Submission of abstracts accepted until March 31, 2009
Keynote speakers
Richard K. Sherwin, New York Law School
Melanie L. Williams, University of Exeter
Confirmed participants
Professor Michelle Cottier, Law, University of Basel
Professor Jeanne Gaakeer, Law, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Dr. Dominique Grisard, History, Center for Gender Studies, University of Basel
Professor Elisabeth Holzleithner, Law, University of Vienna
Professor Greta Olson, English, University of Giessen
Dr. Thomas Scheffer, Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Humboldt University, Berlin
Intersections of Law and Culture aims to investigate law’s place in culture and culture’s place in law. This focus proceeds from the realization that law, once one of society’s most powerful discourses in both its secular and religious forms, has become increasingly influenced by intersecting and competing discourses in medicine, ethics, education and politics. Moreover, the operations of law—its processes and decisions—have entered the realm of popular culture, media and the arts as plot devices used in sit-coms, films and pulp fiction. These in turn have begun to change the way law operates.
Given this increasing porosity and interpermeability among prominent areas of knowledge, the focus of this conference is precisely on the interstices between law and other discursive practices. What are the mechanisms by which popular representations and cultural practices find their way into legal processes? How does law in turn bleed into and influence cultural processes? Does law act as a buffer against societal assumptions about, and constructions of, gender, age, ability, sexuality and ethnicity, or does it re-enforce and re-inscribe existing social norms? Clearly there are no simple, monolithic answers to these complex questions; answers will be historically and culturally contingent, and will change shape depending on the case or the context at hand.
We are especially interested in work that reflects on the differences in law and culture in the European and the Anglo-American contexts. What are the differences between the legal cultures in these distinct but interdependent spheres, and what are the consequences of these differences for the relationship between law and culture? We also want to know what the philosophical, literary and cultural points of reference are for the European and the American systems, and to what extent these distinct frames of reference shape our work in law and literature, and in law and culture. In this same vein we welcome papers that reflect on issues of methodology, or that offer a comparative focus on interdisciplinary methodologies in the study of law and society, law and literature, law and the performing arts, and law and popular culture.
Organizers
Priska Gisler
Collegium Helveticum, ETH Zürich
Goldsmiths College, London
Sara Steinert Borella
Franklin College
Caroline Wiedmer
Franklin College
