Center in Law, Society and Culture

The Center in Law, Society and Culture brings together UC Irvine faculty and graduate students who share interests in law, society, and culture, broadly defined. Issues of interest to center affiliates include race, law and justice; law and literature; critical legal theory; legal consciousness; law and space; legal philosophy, culture and policing; the interaction of local and international legal cultures; globalization; migration; knowledge production; law, science, and society; and law and history. The center sponsors Symposia in Critical Legalities, discussions of participants' work, workshops, colloquia, a graduate fellows program, and other activities that foster intellectual dialogue relating to issues in law, society, and culture.

Critical Legalities Symposia
The Center in Law, Society and Culture holds quarterly Critical Legalities Symposia. By "critical legalities," we refer to (1) ways that law is critical to cutting edge theory, (2) new forms of analysis, and (3) examinations of forms of law that undergird established institutions, structures, and cultural phenomena. Symposia focus on a particular theme, feature presentations by UCI faculty and outside speakers, and include a workshop structured around central issues. Themes for 2007-2008 include youth and transnational policing, law and temporality, and the spring 2008 conference on law, race, and inequality.

Center Meetings
We hold 2-3 center meetings per year. At these meetings, we read and discuss a recent publication or work-in-progress of one of our members. The author briefly describes and contextualizes his or her work, and then another center member (typically, from a different discipline) serves as discussant, providing comments and raising questions. The discussant’s comments are followed by a more general discussion. These meetings are open to other interested faculty and students who are not members of our center, and occur over lunch.

Other Activities
The Center in Law, Society and Culture also sponsors colloquia, workshops, and a graduate fellows program.

Funding for the center's 2007-2008 activities has been generously provided by the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, the School of Humanities, the School of Social Ecology, the School of Social Sciences and the Office of Research.

For more information, contact the Center in Law, Society and Culture's director, Susan Coutin at scoutin@uci.edu or (949) 824-1447; or our Administrative Coordinator, Sharyn Danielson at danielss@uci.edu or (949) 824-9803.