March 31, 2020 at 11:42 am

CLJC Master’s Course Offerings for Fall 2020

The Center for Law, Justice & Culture is offering the following graduate courses on campus in Fall 2020 for the M.A. in Law, Justice & Culture.

Students may complete the program across two semesters of coursework on the Athens campus.

The courses focus on the theoretical and methodological traditions of law and society studies; law and society perspectives across the disciplines; and training in legal research and writing.

Please contact CLJC Director Haley Duschinski for more information about the program.

Fall 2020: Core Courses for CLJC MA Students

LJC 6000: LJC Proseminar

Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.

The proseminar exposes students to law and society studies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students learn the theoretical traditions of law and society scholarship through readings from different disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The wide range of readings provides students with knowledge of varied approaches to the study of law while demonstrating a common appreciation of the mutually constitutive relation of law and society. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Kirstine Taylor, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Law, Justice & Culture

LJC 6500: LJC Research Methods (online)

This course addresses the methodological techniques employed for law and society research and considers how these methodological approaches relate to various theoretical frameworks. It focuses on empirical research and includes practical training on methods such as interviewing, participant observation, sampling, and ethics. The courses focuses on analysis of law as a social phenomenon. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Luis Plascencia, Instructor in Law, Justice & Culture

LJC 6965: Legal Practice Workshop (online)

This course introduces the research, writing, and analytical skills that legal professionals need in their legal practice, including the basics of legal research and legal reference for a variety of print and electronic media. (4 credits)

Taught by Larry Hayman, JD, Ohio University Pre-Law Adviser and Specialist

Fall 2020: Elective Courses for CLJC MA Students

AAS 6930: Independent Research: African American Political Thought

Tuesday 4:35-7:15pm

This course examines the basic tenets of Black political thought and intellectual history in the United States from 1830 to 2000. This course investigates the influences of political thinkers of African descent who shaped several social and political movements and theories, including Progressivism, liberalism, Marxism, Black Nationalism, feminism & womanism, existentialism, and anti-colonialism.

Taught by Dr. Daniel Moak, Assistant Professor of African American Studies

POLS 5225: Law and Colonialism

Tuesday and Thursday, 3:05 to 4:25 p.m.

This course focuses on how law was a central instrument of European and American colonial projects during the 19th and 20th centuries. Students explore how the imposition of colonial law affected colonized societies and their preexisting legal systems; they also examine how western fears and apprehensions vis-à-vis “native” societies affected western law and society in turn. Academic texts as well as a sampling of novels, poetry, plays, and movies provide students points of entry for tracing how law helped establish and manage colonial projects and ideology. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Jennifer Fredette, Assistant Professor of Political Science

POLS 5739: Politics of Race

Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 1:20 p.m.

This course examines various, intricate relationships between race and politics in the United States, starting with a basic introduction to the concept of race, its origins and evolution. Attention is paid early on to the contradictory projects of democracy and racial hierarchy, specifically, the enterprise of white supremacy. The course looks at past and present racial topographies, including, but not limited to, trends in partisanship, political ideology and voter turnout per racial group. It examines how the three branches of government have supported America’s war on drugs, and subsequently how this war has differentially impacted the American people on lines of race, gender, and class. It investigates how racial identity is shaped by varying economic, social and political contexts, and further how these identities can be mobilized for collective purposes. Students think critically about what is at stake in adhering to or diverging from particular racial identities in the political and social arena, how racial identities are policed by group members, and lastly, what is at stake in defining racial authenticity. The last set of readings treat the ways racial anxieties are manipulated during electoral campaigns as a strategy for specific political gains. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Kirstine Taylor, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Law, Justice & Culture

POLS 5751: Critical Race Theory

Monday 5 to 7:45 p.m.

This course examines, analyzes, and theorizes race and racism from a critical and politicized perspective. This rich theoretical perspective points out that racism is still a pervasive part of contemporary societies and seeks out effective ways to challenge racism’s existence and impact on various groups and societies. The course examines Critical Race Theory as a theoretical and political alternative for understanding and criticizing racism in contemporary settings. Critical Race Theory critiques perspectives that claim far-reaching progress has been made combating racism. The course challenges students to think in new ways about contemporary manifestations of racism and explores innovative ways to challenge the widespread prevalence of racism. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Vincent Jungkunz, Associate Professor of Political Science

POLS 5901: Special Topics in Law and Politics: Politics of Surveillance

Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30-11:50 a.m.

Taught by Dr. John Gilliom, Professor of Political Science

SOC 5620: Sociology of the Courts

Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-2:50 p.m.

This course introduces students to a sociological perspective on the importance and impact of the court system in American society. It examines the court’s structural and cultural features as well as how court officials create and move cases through to various institutional outcomes. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Ursula Castellano, Associate Professor of Sociology

SOC 5640: Law in Societies

Online

This course explores the fundamental roles that law plays in organizing contemporary social life. Considers various ways of understanding law’s complex presence: how law shapes and enables routine social interaction, how law constructs differences among people and their actions, how law mediates and enforces power relationships, and how law matters for the kind of societies we have. Our inquiries will examine official legal institutions and actors, but the class will emphasize how law works as a complex array of norms, symbols, discourses, and practices that infuse and shape all aspects of social life, from everyday social interaction to social movements and official legal institutions and actors. The course draws from the U.S. experience as well as historical, international, and transnational perspectives.

Taught by Dr. Bruce Hoffman, Associate Professor of Sociology

SOC 5670: Violence Against Women

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:40-10:35 a.m.

This course examines related forms of violence where women are the predominant victims, with a major emphasis on forcible rape and woman physical abuse. Other forms of violence against women may be included, such as stalking, rape in marriage, incest and other related subjects. The place of masculinities, the development of a rape culture, and the role of the media, including pornography, will be examined. The course will include both theoretical and empirical findings and developments. (4 credits)

Taught by Dr. Holly Ningard, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Sociology