Decolonizing Justice

Decolonizing Justice: art and the mythic
narratives of modern law

This course considers what if any relationship can
be drawn between the discourses of art and law.
All manner of artists and cultural producers have
had run-ins with the law in one form or another,
whether as a matter of intended choice or by
accident. But the complexities and intricacies of
legal code and procedure can often overwhelm and
intimidate the layperson, leaving the impression
that the subject of law is a specialized knowledge
accessible to only those deemed expert. We will
seek to understand how and why these assumptions
might exist in the first place. We will look to
artists who have directly set out to challenge the
narratives behind legal structures towards an
image of social justice (artivists), but we will
also look to how arts and cultural production have
wittingly, or unwittingly served to legitimatize
the very narratives others seek to challenge. Art
and law are linked in their constant need to adapt
and respond to an ever changing society, thus lies
a temptation for each discipline to see itself
both within, but also outside the bounds of
society. Art and law share a unique distinction in
that they are in a perpetual state of dynamism and
self-inquiry. What is just and how does law give
shape to society? What is art and how does it
influence or challenge societal shapes? These
questions are crucial for both practitioners and
observers of art and law equally, between them
sits culture. Cultural narratives and legal
narratives are thus entangled, art shapes law and
law shapes art. If we are to accept the story that
the laws of liberal democracies represent a
self-governing citizenry (the people's will) and
thus cultural values; and if art is understood as
the expressions of these cultural values, then
what can we learn by putting art and law in
dialogue with one another?

Our focus will be oriented towards the Occidental
or Western origins of legal philosophy within the
European project of colonization and it's
racializing logic, what sociologists have called
the process of racialization: how different
peoples have historically been grouped under a set
of racial hierarchies with varying economic,
political and legal privileges or burdens. What
scholars Barbra and Karen Fields have also called
"racecraft." Our line of inquiry begins by
examining the law as an aesthetic practice itself,
tracing the history of its use of iconography,
imagery and ceremony through such devices as
robes, statues and temple-like architecture.
Weekly readings from a variety of perspectives
will be put in dialogue with artists, filmmakers,
performers and other cultural producers as we
attempt to better understand the old narratives of
our modern legal regimes. This course begins with
the assertion that despite legal discourses of
procedure and neutrality (e.g. justice is blind)
law is in fact something fundamentally political,
therefore the endeavor to understand law is an
endeavor to understand power. If art is to
challenge and prompt a healthy critique of culture
and societies, it is then incumbent upon artists
to engage with and understand how legal
institutions organize our shared societies.