Law & Humanities Blog

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• Bob Dylan, Jurisprude
• The Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas Hosts a Conference On the Art and Politics of Irony
• Princeton University, Program in Law and Public Affairs/Fellowships and Positions Available
• Law and Society Fellowship Available at University of Wisconsin

Bob Dylan, Jurisprude Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:42 PM PDT Michael L. Perlin, New York Law School, has published Tangled Up in Law: The Jurisprudence of Bob Dylan. Here is the abstract. As a careful examination of Bob Dylan's lyrics reveals a writer - a scholar - with a well-developed jurisprudence, ranging over a broad array of topics that relate to civil and criminal law, public and private law. His lyrics reflect the work of a thinker who takes "the law" seriously in multiple iterations - the role of lawyers, the role of judges, the disparities between the ways the law treats the rich and the poor, the inequality of the criminal and civil justice systems, the corruption of government, the police, and the judiciary, and more. In this paper, I seek to create a topography of Dylan-as-jurisprudential scholar, and will seek to do this by looking at selected Dylan songs in these discrete areas of law (and law-and-society): • Civil rights • Inequality of the criminal justice system • Institutions • Governmental/judicial corruption • Equality and emancipation (political and economic)  • Poverty, the environment, and Inequality of the civil justice system, and • The role of lawyers and the legal process. Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

The Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas Hosts a Conference On the Art and Politics of Irony Posted: 19 Sep 2011 12:10 PM PDT The Art and Politics of Irony  |  L'art et la politique de l'ironie 12-14 April 2012 ~ Montréal, QC An interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas, McGill University, in collaboration with Improvisation, Community and Social Practice (SSHRC-MCRI) and the Département d'études anglaises, Université de Montréal Call for papers (http://www.mcgill.ca/iplai/conferences/) "The ironist does not have the new within his power . . . he destroys the given actuality by the given actuality itself." Søren Kierkegaard Irony makes the world new by putting the world that exists in question. Its strength lies in its destabilizing power—it is the politics of art, the art of politics, and the language of dissent. By enabling critical representations of the world as it is known, but from within and against the familiarity of our own expectations, irony gives art and discourse special kinds of access to the public sphere, especially by mining beneath the given, the actual, and the known. In politics, philosophy, art and literature, across post-modernism, post-colonialism, and globalization, the question of irony is of expanding relevance to a range of fields of cultural formation and inquiry. Yet it remains insufficiently noticed, understood, or theorized; ironically powerful and silent at once.  What is the meaning of irony? What does it accomplish and exactly how and with what effects?  Is irony impoverished or indispensable, disenchanted or enchanting, world-breaking or world-making? Conference organizers invite proposals for papers addressing the public and public-making function of irony across time and through a range of contexts and media. Disciplines may include but are not limited to: Architecture and Design Art History Classics Film Fine Arts Gender and Sexuality History Law Literature Media and Communications Musicology and Music Performance Philosophy Politics Theatre and Performance Proposals for complete panels as well as for individual papers in English or French are welcome. Researchers are invited to submit paper abstracts of 250 words and brief (2 page) cvs to: irony@mcgill.ca.