Law, Testimony and Trauma
| Module title | Law, Testimony and Trauma |
|---|---|
| Module code | LAW3205 |
| Academic year | 2021/2 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Natalie Ohana (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 12 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 30 |
|---|
Module description
This project-based, research-led module is aimed at developing knowledge on the relationship between law, testimony and trauma. The module will concentrate on traumatic events related to social oppression, such as racism, sexism, classism and xenophobia. Through conducting research projects as part of the module, we will examine the roles legal systems play in sustaining or changing the socio-political conditions that enable traumatic events to take place.
Module aims - intentions of the module
You will take part in developing knowledge in the field by conducting your research project on the legal responses to a traumatic event related to social oppression that you will choose to analyse. During lectures and workshops, you will receive tools that will support and guide you in conducting your research. These include: existing research in the area of law and trauma, theoretical perspectives, an introduction to interdisciplinary research and to creative research methods. You will also learn techniques from art therapy and mindfulness for grounding and self-care for research that can be triggering and/or emotionally taxing. You will be guided in creating your bibliography according to decolonising the curriculum principles.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an in depth and critical understanding of the relationship between law, testimony and trauma in the context of social oppression.
- 2. Demonstrate a foundational understanding of the skills required for (1) listening to people who went through trauma and (2) creating an empowering and effective legal response to trauma.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Analyse the interface between legal systems and political contexts.
- 4. Use the knowledge gained on legal responses in different jurisdictions around the world in your future legal education and practice.
- 5. Demonstrate the ability to co-produce original knowledge in a socio-legal field.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Exhibit an independent and critical voice in academic research.
- 7. Conduct group presentations, provide feedback and critique to your peers, and grow as a consequence of the critique and feedback you yourself have received.
- 8. Employ a critical lens when examining the relationships between law, society and politics, which you can then use in future education and employment in the areas of law and/or politics.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:
Critical perspectives on the concept of trauma
Interdisciplinary perspectives on the concept of testimony
Critical theory on the relationship between knowledge and power
Case studies:
- - Domestic violence civil proceedings in England and Wales
- - The Hillsborough tragedy and ensuing legal proceedings
- - The murder of Stephen Lawrence and the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry
- - The Grenfell Tower fire and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry
- - The Holocaust and a comparison between the Nuremberg trials and the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem
The majority of contact time will be dedicated to group work on individual research projects.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 25.5 | 124.5 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 3 | 3 x 1 hour lectures on concepts, theory and research tools |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 22.5 | 9 x 2.5 hour sessions. Each session will include a 0.5-1 hour lecture and a 1.5-2 hour workshop |
| Guided independent study | 9 | Pair work, 1 hour a week |
| Guided independent study | 15.5 | Reading in preparation for lectures |
| Guided independent study | 10 | Preparation for formative assessment choice of project topic |
| Guided independent study | 25 | Preparation of summative assessment 1 |
| Guided independent study | 25 | Preparation of summative assessment 2 |
| Guided independent study | 40 | Preparation of summative assessment 3 |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choice of topic for research project and written reflection on the reason behind the choice | 500 words | 1-8 | Written or oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summative 1: A recorded or an in-person presentation and a bibliography and organized materials of the contents you will use for chapter 1 of the research project. | 20 | 5 minute presentation; a bibliography and a 4 page document of organized materials (extracts from the sources you will be using organized in a coherent way) | 1-8 | Written |
| Summative 2: A recorded or an in-person presentation, a bibliography and organized materials of the contents you will use for chapter 2 of the research project. | 20 | 5 minute presentation, a bibliography and a 4 page document of organized materials (extracts from the sources you will be using organized in a coherent way) | 1-8 | Written |
| Summative 3: Essay/podcast/blog/film/artistic creation connecting between chapters 1 and 2 and analyzing the interface between the experience of trauma and the legal response to it. | 60 | 2,500 word essay/podcast or blog or: 15 min film or artistic creation + 500 word document on the piece created. Art includes but not limited to poetry, visual art or recorded performance. | 1-8 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summative 1 | Same as original | 1-8 | August/September re-assessment period |
| Summative 2 | Same as original | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
| Summative 3 | Same as original | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Michel Foucault and François Ewald, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 (St Martins Press, 2003).
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Penguin Books, 2017).
Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub, Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis and History (Routledge, 2013).
Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (Hachette UK, 2015).
Monica Casper and Eric Wertheimer, Critical Trauma Studies: Understanding Violence, Conflict and Memory in Everyday Life (NYU Press, 2016).
Shoshana Felman, The Juridical Unconscious (Harvard University Press, 2002).
Didier Fassin, “THE HUMANITARIAN POLITICS OF TESTIMONY: Subjectification through Trauma in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict,” Cultural Anthropology 23, no. 3 (2008): 531–58.
Natalie Ohana “The Archaeology of the Courts’ Domestic Violence Discourse: Discourse as a Knowledge-Sustaining System,” Feminists@Law no. 9(2) 2019 https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.913.
Natalie Ohana Beyond Words: Breaking the Boundaries of Legal Language TEDx Talks,TedX GoodenoughCollege 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ydrf7DljfQ&feature=emb_logo.
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 22/01/2021 |
| Last revision date | 25/01/2021 |
