Pedagogical Encounters in Law, Culture and the Humanities
Academics in law, culture and the humanities find the “law” in a wide array of cultural sites – from Victorian diaries, to Hollywood blockbusters, to children’s literature, to memorial architecture. This richness poses incredible opportunities but also daunting challenges for us in the classroom. How do we teach an entire novel to law students? How might a literature class approach the legal issues raised by a poem? How do we take account of the vision- and sound-scapes in film? How does one study a museum? These kinds of pedagogical encounters are the focus of a unique and innovative three-day institute to be held at Carleton University in Ottawa, from October 3rd to 5th 2008, hosted by the Canadian Initiative in Law, Culture and Humanities.

In the spirit of the subject matter itself, a small group of fewer than thirty academics from a range of disciplines will come together for an intense, interactive learning experience. We are eschewing the traditional conference format in favour of a series of collaborative learning events, including: hands-on workshops, feedback sessions on works-in-progress, screenings, performances, site visits, course outline exchanges, live book reviews, and so on. Participants will move together through the activities over the course of the entire three days building a cumulative energy and a new repertoire of skills and ideas.

If you would like to participate, please send a one-page text outlining why you would like to attend, your own pedagogical experiences and challenges, and how you would see yourself contributing. Please send the email by June 9, 2008 to law@carleton.ca. Please put “Canadian Initiative in Law, Culture and Humanities” or “CILCH” in the subject line and include a brief biographical paragraph. We look forward to hearing from you. We also ask that you kindly post and circulate this call to any others that you feel might be interested in participating.

The Canadian Initiative in Law, Culture and Humanities was founded in 2004 at Carleton University. Having hosted a smaller conference in 2005 and a larger event in 2007, and recognizing the merits of both, we plan to alternate annually between a larger conference and smaller, more intimate, themed gatherings. Given the format of our October 2008 institute, we will have to limit the number of participants. This will, no doubt, be a difficult task. If we are not able to invite you to this event, then we certainly hope you will join us the following year for the larger conference.