| Dozent/in |
Dr. phil. Steven Howe |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Blockveranstaltung |
| Code |
FS261433 |
| Semester |
Frühjahrssemester 2026 |
| Durchführender Fachbereich |
Nichtjuristische Wahlfächer |
| Studienstufe |
Master |
| Termin/e |
wöchentlich (Do), ab 26.02.2026, 16:15 - 18:00 Uhr, 4.B54 |
| Weitere Daten |
No classes on 26 March ans 21 May. |
| Umfang |
1.5 Semesterwochenstunden |
| Turnus |
9 sessions of 2 lessons each |
| Inhalt |
This course introduces students to a vibrant and vital area of interdisciplinary study. Reading law with literature and film can shed new light on key jurisprudential themes, open fresh critical possibilities for exploring law’s claims and its power, and grant access to ethical issues frequently covered over in formal legal discourse. The recent ‘cultural turn’ in legal scholarship has, moreover, aroused new interest in the moral and political significance of popular cultural representations of law, and encouraged critical work that thinks seriously about their meanings and effects.
The lead aim of the course is to familiarize students with a range of approaches, methodologies, definitions and debates relevant to the inter- and transdisciplinary study of law, literature and film, and from there to build towards a sophisticated critical engagement with a series of carefully chosen cultural texts. To this end, the syllabus falls in two parts. Part I (sessions 1-4) will introduce some key concepts and theories drawn from the fields of ‘law and literature’, ‘law and film’ and ‘law and popular culture’ studies. In Part II (sessions 5-9) we will apply these ideas in close discussion of select literary and cinematic texts, historical and contemporary, that raise critical issues of law and (in)justice. |
| Lernziele |
Upon completion of the module, students should be able to show the following:
- a knowledge and critical understanding of the theories, concepts and arguments that have emerged from ‘law and literature’, ‘law and film’ and ‘law and popular culture’ studies, and the ability to apply these ideas to a range of appropriate texts and to their thinking about law more generally
- an awareness of some of the ways in which literature and film might reflect, express and engage with issues of law and justice
- an appreciation of how popular representations of law and justice might contribute to the shaping of legal identities, ideologies and imaginaries
- the ability to think critically about their own positionality in relation to culturally produced texts
- a deeper understanding of how cultural forms, narratives and representations intersect with law across a variety of contexts |
| Voraussetzungen |
None. |
| Sprache |
Englisch |
| Abschlussform / Credits |
Essay (passed/failed, 75%), class participation and assignments (25%) / 3 Credits
|
| Hörer-/innen |
Ja |
| Kontakt |
steven.howe@unilu.ch |
| Literatur |
What’s indispensable?
Relevant course material will be made available online via OLAT. |