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Academic Year 2000/2001
Discourse and Legal Processes
ANTH 375 SP
This course is concerned with the role of language in law and legal processes. We begin by examining several approaches: the ethnography of law as a discursive practice, sociolinguistic research on trials and disputes,
and studies of law as ideology and
representation. Through discourse analysis we will explore the power dynamics behind conflict resolution, especially as concerns gender, race, and class, and we will assess how law provides arenas for the construction
of hegemony and the practice of
resistance. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to using methods of discourse analysis to illuminate the dynamics of legal processes in the U.S. Students will analyze data from court cases and media
representations of law.
MAJOR READINGS
R. Hariman, POPULAR TRIALS: RHETORIC, MASS MEDIA AND THE LAW J. Conley and W.M. O'Barr, RULES VERSUS RELATIONSHIPS: THE DISCOURSES OF LAW M. Foucalt, I, PIERRE RIVIERE HAVING SLAUGHTERED MY MOTHER, MY SISTER AND MY
FATHER M. Lazarus-Black and S.
Hirsch, CONTESTED STATES: LAW, HEGEMONY AND RESISTANCE S. Berk-Seligsen, THE BILINGUAL COURTROOM: COURT INTERPRETERS IN THE JUDICIAL PROCESS P. Williams, THE ALCHEMY OF RACE AND RIGHTS: DIARY OF A LAW PROFESSOR R.
Wagner-Pacifici, DISCOURSE AND
DESTRUCTION: THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA VERSUS MOVE
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
One short paper, a midterm examination and a final research project.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Students must have taken one previous social science course. Permission of instructor. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first
class, they will be dropped from the
class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT:
Lecture
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS ANTH
Grading Mode:
Student Option
Prerequisites:
NONE
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-26-2001
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459