Università Roma Tre

LAW AND HUMANITIES 2023/’24



COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course will first provide an introduction to the law and the humanities movement in general and then focus on several different, even if strictly connected, fields of study: e.g. law and literature, law and music, law and fiction, law and history, law and religion, law and truth, law and society. The course will question the traditional isolation of legal studies in analyzing law with reference to the other social sciences and, more generally, to a larger cultural context. Texts, symbols and representations, which have greatly influenced popular understanding of law, will be discussed in thematic weeks by professors coming from different parts of Italy and of the world.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- to introduce students to the law and the humanities movement.
- to investigate the benefits of interdisciplinary studies.
- to develop a critical approach to legal texts.
- to understand law in the wider context of social sciences
- to stress the importance of the cultural context for a better understanding of law in the past as well as the present

ASSESSMENT TOOLS:
Final grades will be based on:
• Participation in class
• Midterm written work
• Final, oral exam

ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Attendance in class is compulsory to be admitted to the final examination, which will cover all the topics discussed during the course.

READING MATERIAL:
Every thematic week will be associated to introductory papers which will be progressively uploaded on the ‘Roma Tre’ e-learning platform.

Lessons will start on Tuesday 3 October 2023 at 2.15 p.m. From the following week, the course will be held every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 2.15 to 4 p.m. and will end on Wednesday 6/12/2023.

HOW TO ENROL:
To enrol in the course, please send an e-mail to the teacher at the following address: sara.menzinger@uniroma3.it

SCHEDULE OF LESSONS:

7-9 October 2024: course presentation and first thematic week on “Law and Fiction” (prof. Sara Menzinger)

14-16 October 2024: “Law and Italian Literature” (prof. Sara Menzinger, prof. Justin Steinberg, University of Chicago)

21-23 October 2024: “Law and Medieval English Literature” (prof. Sara Menzinger, Dr. Chen Cui, University of Padua)

29-30 October 2024, h. 12.00-13.30 p.m.: Midterm Exam (written test): students will have to answer three/four open-ended questions on the previous 3 weeks topics

4-6 November 2024: "Law and Theology" (prof. Sara Menzinger, prof. Raphaël Eckert, Université de Strasbourg)

11-13 November 2024: “Law and Truth” (prof. Sara Menzinger, Dr. Andrew Cecchinato, University of Nottingham)

18-20 November 2024: “Law and Slavery” (prof. Sara Menzinger, Dr. Marjorie Carvalho de Souza, University of Salento )

25-27 November 2024: "Law and Music" (prof. Sara Menzinger, prof. Giorgio Resta and prof. Emanuele Conte, University of 'Roma Tre')

2-4 December 2024: final interviews for the Law and Humanities course

Every thematic week will be associated to introductory papers which will be progressively uploaded on the ‘Roma Tre’ Moodle platform.