Law Commons^™

Claudia Rankine's 'Citizen': Documenting And Protesting America's Halting March Toward Racial Justice And Equality, Susan Ayres

Susan Ayres

After the first election of President Barak Obama in 2008, there was a sense that the United States had reached a post-racial phase in its history. That sentiment was relatively short-lived, because by 2013, when Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, it was clear that President Obama’s election was not transformative. More recently, during the presidential campaign and after the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, undisguised racism in the United States has reared its ugly head. Activists such as the Reverend Al Sharpton have been outspoken in their criticism of President Trump. Sharpton has claimed, “Everything King fought …

An Apology For A Pathological Brute (Reviewing Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life Of Africa's Greatest Explorer (2007)), Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This is a review of Tom Jeal’s Stanley: the Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer. Although perhaps the most carefully researched of the many books of Stanley, the book suffers from its zealous attempt to absolve Stanley of his inhumanity in spite of the most extensive historical evidence of the abominations that he committed against Africans. Instead, Jeal sets out to humanize a historical monster who paved the way for many pogroms committed by the colonial hegemons in Africa. Even deep flaws of character, including self-denial, that were so evident in Stanley are either explained away or excused. The book …

Crisis And Trigger Warnings: Reflections On Legal Education And The Social Value Of The Law, Kim D. Chanbonpin

Kim D. Chanbonpin

In the same moment that law schools are embracing neoliberal strategies in response to the economic crisis caused by declining admissions, students in the classroom have begun to agitate for advance content notices (or “trigger warnings”) to alert them to any potentially trauma-inducing course materials. For faculty who have already adopted a defensive posture in response to threats to eliminate tenure, this demand feels like an additional assault on academic freedom; one that reflects a distressing student-as-consumer mentality. From this vantage point, students are too easily cast as another group of adversaries when, in actuality, students are straw targets who …

September 11th: Pro Bono And Trauma, Marjorie A. Silver

Marjorie A. Silver

No abstract provided.

Intro. To Post-Traumatic Culture, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

This is the Introduction to my POST-TRAUMATIC CULTURE: INJURY AND INTERPRETATION IN THE 90s. It develops the premise that trauma is psychophysiogical: an injury that is also an interpretation of an injury. Its analyses show the idea of trauma functioning as a tool that all sorts of people use for a range of purposes.

Children Going West (Review Essay Of Hillary Clinton, It Takes A Village), Kenneth Anderson

Kenneth Anderson