Law and Society

Law and Society is a Social Science class taught by Jennifer Hamilton.

Announcements and Important Links
[[Media:SS_192_J10_Syllabus.pdf|SS 192 Jan Term Syllabus J10]]

NB: Syllabus for Jan Term 2011 will be available by the end of Fall term 

[[Media:ICA_Common.pdf|Common Place of Law Assignment]]

[[Media:Critical_Reaction_Paper_Assignment_(SS_192_J10).pdf|Critical Reaction Paper Assignment]]

HampNet Course Website

Class Blog

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Course Description
This course is an introductory exploration of the ways law shapes our lives and how society and culture affect how we interpret and experience law. Using case studies and a range of theoretical and methodological tools, we will examine key cultural and technological challenges to contemporary political and legal structures, asking how law functions in a broader social context. In other words, this is not a traditional class in law, but rather an introduction to critical ideas and concepts in anthropology and other forms of social scientific investigation.

Course Units Introduction to Law and Society: Some Key Terms and Concepts Automobility: The Social and Legal Lives of Cars The Cultural Study of Torts: Is Obesity an Injury? Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood Gendered Perspectives on Injury White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race Driving While Black: Racialized Experiences of Law Narratives of Property Gendered Perspectives on Property Law in an Age of Genomics Conclusion: Law &amp; Society

Learning Goals

 * Expressive
 * Multi-Cultural
 * Project-based
 * Presenting
 * Reading
 * Writing

Required Texts
Haney-López, Ian 2006 White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York: New York University Press. (T)

Kirkland, Anna 2008 Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood. New York: New York University Press. (T)

All other course readings will be available electronically through the HampNet Course Website. Login and password required.

Syllabus
COURSE SCHEDULE This course schedule is subject to change based on the needs of the class. You are responsible for any changes to this syllabus announced during class. Any changes will also be posted on the HampNet Course Website. The online version of the syllabus should be considered the most up-to-date.

Week 1

Mon Jan 4 Introduction to Law and Society: Some Key Terms and Concepts

Silbey, Susan S., and Ayn Cavicchi 2005 The Common Place of Law: Transforming Matters of Concern into the Object of Everyday Life. In Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy. B. Latour and P. Weibel, eds. Pp. 556-565. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (O) [Distributed and read in-class]

In-Class Assignment: The Common Place of Law (1-2 page write-up due at the beginning of the following class period) (Assignment Code: ICA_Common)

Review of Syllabus

Break

Film: Divided Highways: The Interstates and the Transformation of American Life (87 min, 1997)

Discussion Groups

Tues Jan 5 Automobility: The Social and Legal Lives of Cars DEADLINE: CRP 1 due at the beginning of class (CRP1) (NB: You must use Jain for CRP1)

DEADLINE: First blog post due at 10pm Monday night

Readings: Jain, Sarah S. Lochlann 2004 “Dangerous Instrumentality”: The Bystander as Subject in Automobility. Cultural Anthropology 19(1):61-94. (O)

Urry, John 2004 The 'System' of Automobility. Theory, culture &amp; society 21(4-5):25-39. (O) [NB: You only need to read first section of article, pp. 25-27]

Recommended Readings: Johnson, Dennis W. 2009 Ribbons of Highway: The Interstate Highway Act of 1956. In The Laws That Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and Their Lasting Impact. Pp. 261-292. New York: Routledge. (O)

Schlosser, Eric 2001 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 13-28. (O)

Weeks, E. 1927 A Criminal in Every Family. In The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. October. Pp. 445-451. (O)

Break

Skill-Building: CRP Workshop

Discussion Groups

Wed Jan 6 The Cultural Study of Torts: Is Obesity an Injury?

Readings: McCann, Michael 2001 Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon. University of Miami Law Review 56:113-178. (O)

Adams, Ronald 2005 Fast Food, Obesity, and Tort Reform: An Examination of Industry Responsibility for Public Health. Business and Society Review 110(3):297-320. (O)

Mello, Michelle M., Eric B. Rimm, and David M. Studdert 2003 The McLawsuit: The Fast-Food Industry and Legal Accountability for Obesity. Health Affairs 22(6):207-216. (O)

Kirkland, Fat Rights, Preface and “Introduction: The Challenge of Difference,” pp. ix-29 (T)

Case Studies: Liebeck v. McDonald’s (see McCann); Pelman v. McDonald’s (O)

Break

Discussion Groups

Skill-Building: Legal Research Workshop (led by Joe DeManuelle-Hall; you are allowed to bring and use laptops for this exercise)

Thurs Jan 7 Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood DEADLINE: CRP 2 due at the beginning of class (CRP2) (NB: You need only focus on one chapter from Fat Rights for your CRP)

Readings: Kirkland, Fat Rights, Chapters 1, 3, and 4

In-Class Assignment: Law and Personhood (1-2 page write-up due Friday at noon) (Assignment Code: ICA_Personhood)

Break

Film: Ghost in Your Genes (56 min, 2007) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/

Discussion Groups

Week 2

Mon Jan 11 Gendered Perspectives on Injury DEADLINE: CRP 3 due at the beginning of class (CRP3) NB: You must write about either Welke or Dumit for the CRP.

Readings: Welke, Barbara Y. 1994 Unreasonable Women: Gender and the Law of Accidental Injury, 1870-1920. Law &amp; social inquiry 19(2):369-403. (O)

Bernstein, Anita 2003 Hymowitz v. Eli Lilly and Co.: Markets of Mothers. In Torts stories. R. L. Rabin and S. D. Sugarman, eds. Pp. 151-178. New York: Foundation Press. (O)

Dumit, Joseph 1998 Living with the 'Truths' of DES: Toward an Anthropology of Facts. In Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots. R. Davis-Floyd and J. Dumit, eds. Pp. 212-239. New York: Routledge. (O)

Read/explore DES Action USA website http://www.desaction.org/ NB: Take notes &amp; print out aspects of the website you will want to discuss in class.

Recommended Reading: t Hoen, Ellen F. M., and M. N. Graham Dukes 2007 Compensation for Diethylstilbestrol Injury. The Lancet 369(9557):173-174. (O)

Break

Film: A Healthy Baby Girl (1996, dir. Judith Helfand, 57 min.) http://www.itvs.org/external/babyg/hbgmain.html

Discussion Groups

Tues Jan 12 White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race

Readings: Haney López, White by Law, “Preface,” pp. xiii-xviii; “A Note on Whiteness,” pp. xxi-xxii; Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-55 (T)

Skill-Building Session: Anthropological Methods and Cultural Readings of Legal Documents

Break

Film: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode III: The House We Live In (California News Reel, 56 min) http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm

Discussion Groups

Wed Jan 13 White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race

Haney López, White by Law, Chapters 4-5, pp. 56-108

Break

Driving While Black: Racialized Experiences of Law (Session led by Daniel Scheer) Reading(s) TBA Case Study: Commonwealth v. Jason Vassell http://www.justiceforjason.org/

Discussion Groups

Thurs Jan 14 Narratives of Property DEADLINE: CRP 4 due at the beginning of class (CRP4)

Readings: Humphrey, Caroline, and Katherine Verdery 2004 Introduction: Raising Questions about Property. In Property in Question: Value Transformation in the Global Economy. K. Verdery and C. Humphrey, eds. pp. 1-25. Oxford, UK; New York, NY, USA: Berg. (O)

Seed, Patricia 2001 American Pentimento: The Invention of Indians and the Pursuit of Riches. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1-28. (O)

Case Studies: Diamond v. Chakrabarty (O); Moore v. the Regents of the University of California (O)

In-Class Assignment: Narratives of Property (1-2 page write-up due Friday at noon) (Assignment Code: ICA_Property)

Break

Narratives of Property: Eminent Domain (Session led by Joe DeManuelle-Hall) Reading(s) TBA Case Studies: Matter of Kaur v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp; Kelo v. City of New London

Discussion Groups

Week 3

Mon Jan 18  No class; MLK Day

Tues Jan 19 Gendered Perspectives on Property DEADLINE: CRP 5 due at the beginning of class (CRP5)

Almeling, Rene 2009 Gender and the Value of Bodily Goods: Commodification in Egg and Sperm Donation. Law and contemporary problems 72(3):37-58. (O)

Hyde, Alan 1997 The Body as Property. In Bodies of Law. pp. 48-74. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. (O)

Morgan, Lynn M. 2002 "Properly Disposed of": A History of Embryo Disposal and the Changing Claims on Fetal Remains. Medical Anthropology 21(3-4):247-274. (O)

Break

Session led by Thea Henney Readings and Case Studies TBA

Discussion Groups

Wed Jan 20 Law in an Age of Genomics

Each group will give a presentation (15 minutes, 10 minutes for discussion) summarizing the case study and placing that case study in a broader sociocultural context. More details about the content and format of the presentations forthcoming.

Group 1 Sex, Gender, and Law in a Genomic Age

Case Study: Littleton v. Prange (O)

Readings: Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2003 The Problem with Sex/Gender and Nature/Nurture. In Debating Biology: Sociological Reflections on Health, Medicine, and Society. S. J. Williams, L. I. A. Birke, and G. Bendelow, eds. Pp. 123-132. London and New York: Routledge. (O)

Robson, Ruthann 2007 A Mere Switch or a Fundamental Change? Theorizing Transgender Marriage. Hypatia 22(1):58-70. (O)

Recommended: Grenfell, Laura 2003 Making Sex: Law's Narratives of Sex, Gender and Identity. Legal Studies 23(1):66-102. (O)

Group 2 'Who Owns My Body? Property, Patents, and the Legal Battle over BRCA'

Case Study: Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office et al. [Myriad Genetics lawsuit] (O)

Readings: Parry, Bronwyn, and Cathy Gere 2006 Contested Bodies: Property Models and the Commodification of Human Biological Artefacts. Science as culture 15(2):139-158. (O)

Parthasarathy, Shobita 2005 The Patent Is Political: The Consequences of Patenting the BRCA Genes in Britain. Community Genetics 8(4):235-242. (O)

Group 3 'Who Owns That Body? The Legal Battle for the Ancient One/Kennewick Man'

Case Study: Bonnichsen v. United States (O)

Readings: Hamilton, Jennifer A. 2008 Of Caucasoids and Kin: Kennewick Man, Race, and Genetic Indigeneity in Bonnichsen v. United States. In Indigeneity in the Courtroom: Law, Culture, and the Production of Difference in North American Courts. New York: Routledge. (O)

TallBear, Kimberly 2007 Narratives of Race and Indigeneity in the Genographic Project. The Journal of Law, Medicine &amp; Ethics 35(3):412-424. (O)

Thurs Jan 21 Conclusion: Law and Society

Moot Court/Courtroom Drama (Cases and schedule TBD) 

Course Goals
1) To introduce students to the social and cultural study of law. 2) To help students to build and improve skills in critical reading and writing. 3) To challenge students to develop new perspectives and to expand their skills of critical thinking. 4) To help students design and implement individual project-based work. 

Course Format
Most classes will begin with an introductory lecture and discussion followed by a film and/or in-class assignment. We will end each class session by splitting up into smaller discussion groups led by the teaching assistants. Throughout the course, we will also have different “Skill-Building Sessions” which will help you acquire new skills in writing and research. Discussion groups will be determined at the beginning of the course.

Course Expectations and Requirements
This class is comprised of challenging subject matter and is designed to be discussion-based and cumulative. You are encouraged to be an active participant and listener in class; thus, attendance and preparation are necessary and mandatory. You are expected to complete all readings promptly and to come to class on time with questions and comments. You are also expected to take notes during lectures and discussions.

This is a writing-intensive course. All assignments must be completed promptly and thoroughly in order to receive a final evaluation for the course. Unless otherwise indicated, all assignments are due at the beginning of class. Late assignments will be noted on a student’s evaluation and/or will be reflected in a student’s grade. Consistently late assignments will result in the student being asked to withdraw from the course. More than one unexcused absence throughout the term will result in a “no evaluation.” This includes classes missed during the drop/add period.

Films are an integral part of course materials and may only be viewed in class. Assignments will often be started and worked on during class time so that you can benefit from interactive engagement with me and with your peers.

January Term courses are intensive learning experiences—you will essentially live and breathe “Law and Society” for the next three weeks. You are receiving full credit for this course and are expected to put forth your best effort in all aspects of the course. You should anticipate at least three hours of readings/assignments per night and should dedicate substantial portions of your weekend to preparing for the week ahead. If this is not how you imagined your Jan Term, you should not take this course.

If you are struggling with course materials or are experiencing other difficulties that interfere with course work, please get in touch with me immediately. I can’t help you if I don’t know there’s a problem.

Other Stuff Please turn off all cell phones, Blackberries, pagers, and other distracting, ringing, singing, texting, non-course-related machines.

Laptops are allowed in class for presentations or for designated in-class research only. You should be fully engaged during class lectures and discussions, and laptops are a serious distraction to the user and those around him or her. I will allow exceptions to this rule only in cases of a documented learning difference or other extenuating circumstances. If you require permission to use a laptop during class, please consult with me privately within the first two course periods. If you are granted permission, you are expected to use the laptop for course purposes only.

Course Assignments and Evaluation
Assignments Critical Reaction Papers (CRPs) In order to help you organize your readings and improve your writing skills as well as to encourage thoughtful class discussion, you will write short critical reaction papers throughout the course. Based on the assigned readings, these papers should be between one and two pages in length (250-500 words). They should briefly summarize the reading, and contain your critical, analytical reaction to the author’s main argument(s).

More information about the assignment will be distributed in class and posted on the course sites. We will also have an in-class CRP Workshop early in the course. You are expected to hand in five critical reaction papers during the course. See syllabus for deadlines.

In-Class Assignments We will work through class readings and questions through in-class assignments. Based on group work and your own ideas, you will then turn in a brief write-up (1-2 pages) due the following day or class period. Assignment sheets will be distributed in class. See syllabus for details.

NB: Absence from class does not mean you are excused from the assignment. Assignment sheets will be posted after class on the course websites. It is your responsibility to complete the assignment by the deadline.

Group Projects and Presentations Law in a Genomic Age Presentation For this assignment, we will break into three groups. Each group will give a presentation (15 minutes, 10 minutes for discussion) summarizing the case study and placing that case study in a broader sociocultural context. More details about the content and format of the presentations forthcoming. For topics, readings, and case studies, see Course Schedule (January 20th).

Moot Court/Courtroom Drama Students will choose a legal case to script and act out. You will not be judged on your acting abilities, but rather on the clarity, cogency, and informational content of your presentation.

In addition, you will be asked to write a 1-2 page summary of what you individually contributed to each project/presentation.

Class Blog

For each class, you are to do one of the following:

Post a thoughtful, well-formulated question that could be used as a point of departure for discussion. You should post these questions on the class blog by 10 pm the evening before class so that I and the teaching assistants will have a chance to review them. I am looking for evidence of careful reading and thoughtful engagement. It is perfectly fine if some of the material is challenging for you. Ask the question for which you'd like to have further explication or which you would like to discuss further with your peers.

OR

In order to help you think through course readings and to encourage class discussion, you can contribute to an electronic “journal” throughout the semester where you post media artifacts (newspaper and magazine articles, legal documents, internet sites, film and television clips, etc) and reflect on their relevance to course materials. You are required to write a paragraph about the artifact’s relationship to course readings for that day.

Evaluation Criteria Final evaluations will focus on the following areas: • effort • attendance, preparation, and participation • skills development especially in critical reading and writing • quality of written work and attention to detail • individual improvement throughout the semester

Course Policies
Students with Disabilities Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with me by our second class period. All discussions will remain confidential. Students should also contact Joel Dansky, Hampshire’s Disabilities Services Coordinator. He may be reached at 413-559-5423 or via email jdansky@hampshire.edu. For more information, please contact Disabilities Services

Ethics of Scholarship

Hampshire College is part of a broader community of scholars, a community where ideas, hypotheses, new concepts, and carefully established facts are the currency. None of us, faculty or students, is able to survive without borrowing from the work of others. Just as we expect to have our work recognized in examination reports; reappointments and promotions; or the footnotes of those who borrow from us, so must we carefully recognize those from whom we borrow.  For more information and for a set of guidelines about how properly to acknowledge borrowed sources, download '''[[Media:ETHICS_OF_SCHOLARSHIP.pdf|Hampshire's Ethics of Scholarship (PDF)]]. '''

Incompletes No incompletes will be granted for January term courses.