Queering the future for law?
Chairs: Juho Aalto, University of Turku (juho.j.aalto@utu.fi), Aleida Luján Pinelo, University of Turku & Marjo Rantala, University of Helsinki
In dominant legal thinking, modern legal systems are perceived neutral, both in terms of language and power. The modernist ideas of objectivity, neutrality, functionality, and formal equality have affected the formation of modern law in domestic legislation and in international law and governance. Feminist legal scholars, notwithstanding, have challenged these ideas pointing out how the individual as the rights-holder is based on male perceptions of the reality. On one hand, despite law itself is held partly responsible for oppression, law is often considered as a useful tool for social change. On the other hand, post-feminist movements in human sciences have demonstrated how heteronormativity and binary understanding of sex are so embedded in law that it seems impossible to strive for justice through litigation and legal reforms. Courts appear incapable of recognizing non-heterosexual human relations, and non-binary identities and bodies.
In this working group, we want to discuss the future of law both from the perspectives of “in law” and “about law” in addressing and dismantling power hierarchies and structural inequality related to sex/gender and sexuality. We encourage you to queer curiosity for asking questions about everything that “at odds with the normal” taken as granted by deploying indeterminate concepts as “normality”, “tradition”, “naturality” and “public opinion”. Thus, we call for papers that touch upon, for instance, intersectionality, identity politics, personal integrity, self-determination, reproduction, vulnerability, and harm. We wish to bring together different critical approaches to law including new materialism, contextual, socio-legal, and discourse analysis.
Read more about the conference from here
