Legal Imaginaries across the Asia-Pacific: Vernacular laws and literatures

The Asia-Pacific is our region – important, volatile and diverse. Although there are many shared similarities in law and culture – including not least the history and legacy of colonialism – there are also telling differences. In recent years the law and literature movement has articulated the relevance of a study of culture in understanding law, and of the power of literary and other creative practices to more deeply engage with the legal history of particular places, to critique their legacy, and to imagine new futures. Postcolonialism, Afro-Futurism, Legal Imaginaries and Prefigurative Law are names that articulate this trend.

Particularly when questions of the relationship between law and history on the one hand, and law’s capacity to respond to the crises of the 21st century on the other, are urgent, linking law and literature in these ways is a powerful and creative tool for legal education and reform. It offers the potential to enrich the work of students of law, scholars, legal experts, and the wider public.

Yet until recently, the interdisciplinary approach of law and literature remains largely wedded to a traditional Western literary canon. But there are new trends offering enormous promise for enriching the plurality and specificity of law and literature, including work on Hong Kong, Singapore, India; not to mention a variety of scholars engaging with indigenous narrative and legal traditions in Australia, and on the west coast of the American continent.

The workshop is part of steps to build a new network that targets a specific geographic constellation and identifies, through the language of ‘the imaginary’ and ‘vernacular’, a specific set of theoretical resources. ‘Laws and literatures’ both frames the endeavour in relation to an established field and pluralises it in significant ways.

The workshop would be of interest to academics and students, particularly those in literature, law and the humanities, legal theory, and postcolonial studies. 

It will feature new work from prominent and emerging scholars working in law and literature from right across the region -- from Australia, Aoteoroa, the Pacific and Mexico to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia – showcasing remarkable new directions with a common geographic and theoretical orientation. 

Download the program here.