Type of Credit: Partially Required
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Stories fill the law; the law is made up of stories. Competing stories often come to determine a person’s legal fate. The fact that story-telling—often untrue ones—is so deeply intertwined with verdicts is a deeply uncomfortable part of the law. In this course, we seek to examine this relationship, between story-telling and justice, between law and literature. We examine the role of stories in resistance against colonial regimes, such as Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Buru Quartet and Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj. We examine popular narratives of crime through the lens of social theory—as well as under-studied and invisible areas of punishment, such as parole and child custody. We think together about how to create new stories about animals and the environment. At the end of the semester students choose their own topics, working collaboratively in three-person teams to tell stories that push against law’s dominion.
能力項目說明
This course is designed so that students will improve at the following skills, all of which can only be developed with repeated practice and feedback:
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Week |
Topic |
Content and Reading Assignment |
Teaching Activities and Homework |
|
1 |
Introduction to the course |
|
|
|
2 |
Anticolonialism |
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, The Buru Quartet
|
Read first half of novel. |
|
3 |
Anticolonialism |
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, The Buru Quartet
|
Finish novel.
|
|
4 |
Anticolonialism |
Prepare your own piece of historical fiction in which a person experiences an awakening. |
Prepare your own piece of historical fiction of a person experiencing an awakening. The moment must be at least thirty years old. |
|
5 |
Historical Fiction Crime and Punishment |
Prepare your own piece of historical fiction in which a person experiences an awakening.
|
Prepare your own piece of historical fiction of a person experiencing an awakening. The moment must be at least thirty years old. |
|
6 |
Crime and Punishment |
Larissa Macfarquhar, “When Should a Child Be Taken From His Parents?”
Rachel Aviv, “The Science of Sex Abuse”
|
We will debate and discuss these topics in class. |
|
7 |
Crime and Punishment |
“Port of Lies” |
In-class screening and discussion |
|
8 |
Crime and Punishment |
Kafka, The Trial |
Creative interpretations of Kafka |
|
9 |
Animal Rights
|
Blackfish |
Prepare for in-class exercise on oral advocacy
|
|
10 |
Animal Rights |
Excerpt, Elizabeth Costello Keith Thomas, Man and the Animal World
|
In-class exercise on oral advocacy of animal and environmental rights
|
|
11 |
Animal and Environmental Right |
Prepare for trial today |
In-class trial on animal and environmental rights |
|
12 |
Refugee, Migrants, People On the Move |
Violaine Schwartz, Papers (translated by Christine Gutman) |
Prepare for next week’s asylum and refugee trial |
|
13 |
Refugee, Migrants, People On the Move |
Legal transcripts and asylum hearings
Elizabeth Kolbert, “Can We Talk to Whales?”
|
In-class asylum and refugee trial |
|
14 |
Taiwan Stories on the Sunflower Movement |
Guest Lecturers |
Prepare questions for guest lecturers |
|
15 |
Final Project Exhibit |
Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj (we’ll use this as an example of a primary source) Students must also choose one primary source |
Students prepare for final project |
|
16 |
Final Project Exhibit |
Students annotate three to five academic secondary sources |
Students prepare for final project |
|
17 |
Final Project Exhibit |
Students annotate three to five academic secondary sources |
Students prepare for final project |
|
18 |
(Flexible Supplemental Week) |
(Flexible Supplemental Week) |
(Flexible Supplemental Week) |
Participation (Attendance, Quizzes, Participation, Role-plays) 50%
Students are expected to participate in all interactive activities, mock trials, role plays and hearings.
Short Source Analysis – 10%
Students will be expected to write analysis drawing on a source from the assigned readings.
Final project 25%
Students are expected to do a collaborative research project in which they tell a story about a particular law or social movement that shaped a law.
Reflection Papers 15%
Students are expected to write short reflections on readings and group activities.
***Open to use AI.***