Actors, Structures and Law 2015-2019

This research project argues that it is time to reflect on how the linguistic turn of the social and cultural studies should be taken up by the legal science. Thus, the theoretic challenge goes beyond gender. We see law as a gendering practice that constructs its subjects, as opposed to traditional legal approach, which implements law on given facts, including the two categories of gender.

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

We see gender, ethnicity, disability, class etc. as constructed in legal discourses and practices, as opposed to fixed categories. This theoretical rationale goes beyond identities to understanding how legal concepts are constructed. The other rationale of the research project is to study how the constructive understanding of gender can be applied into legal research is utilized in case studies, most notably in the regulation of parental responsibilities and criminal law and policy.

These ideas bind together the research themes of the reseachers: violence against women and youth, regulation of parental leave and breast feeding, position of women in semi-urban areas, family law, the right to bodily integrity, anti-discrimination law.