Activities
November 5, 2009
Beginning at 4 p.m. in 120 Clemens Hall, there will be a screening of "Fire Under the Snow," followed by questions/conversation with the director of the movie, Makoto Sasa.
The film revolves around Palden Gyatso, a Buddhist monk since childhood, was arrested by the Chinese Communist Army in 1959. He spent the next 33 years in prison for the "crimes" of peaceful demonstration and refusal to denounce his apolitical teacher as an Indian spy. He was tortured, starved and sentenced to hard labor. He watched his nation and culture destroyed, his teachers, friends and family displaced, jailed or killed under Chinese occupation. Fire Under the Snow reaches back to Palden's birth in 1933 and follows him through the Orwellian nightmare that began with the Chinese invasion. For more information about the film at http://www.fireunderthesnow.com/.
The event is sponsored by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy of the UB Law School; Undergraduate Academies; Asian Studies Program. For questions, contact Bruce Acker at 645-0763 (backer@buffalo.edu)
October 27, 2009
Theorists and Jurists Series: John L. Comaroff, "Detective Fictions and Sovereign Pursuits: Further Adventures in Policing the Postcolony"
4:30-6:00 p.m., followed by reception.
Baldy Center for Law
and Social Policy,
University at Buffalo
Law School,
509 O'Brian Hall,
Buffalo, NY 14260
Religion has always been intimately connected to law. Conversely, modern secular law, born of the separation of lex naturae from lex dei, has always been deeply theological. However, with transformations in the construction of the nation-state and changes in the socio-political scaffolding of the global order, the mutual infusion of law and religion appears to be extending both in scope and in substance—not-withstanding the ever more strident assertion of secularism by some nation-states. Counterintuitively, the law itself appears to be ever more suffused with the sacral, while, across the planet, the sacral is reconstructing constitutional jurisprudence, administrative law, and much more besides. How do we account for this, for the rise of expansive cultures of theo-legality? Where is it leading? And with what implications?
John L. Comaroff got his PhD at the London School of Economics. He is the Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, does research in southern Africa, concentrating on the Tswana peoples. He is interested in colonialism, postcoloniality, modernity, neoliberalism, social theory, and the history of consciousness; in politics, law, and historical anthropology.
October 14, 2009
Daniel Bell, "Towards a Progressive and Humane Confucian Ethics?"
Dr. Daniel Bell, author of the engaging and illuminating book China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society, will speak on the revival of Confucianism in China. Dr. Bell will examine China's search for a new moral foundation for political rule to replace communism and for a new philosophy to provide moral guidance in everyday life. To the surprise of many Sinologists, the new philosophy developing in China does not owe much to Western political philosophy, but rather to the old and venerable tradition of Confucianism. Dr. Bell will explore these changes and discuss proposals for a progressive form of Confucianism that offers a compelling alternative to Western liberal democracy.
The event is free and open to the public. The Nichols School is located at 1250 Amherst Street, at the corner of Colvin, in Buffalo. The library reading room is in Albright Hall, the building with the clock tower in the center of campus.
Cosponsored by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Asian Studies Program, the Asian Law Working Group, and Nichols School.
China's New Confucianism is on sale at Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo.
Dr. Bell is professor of political philosophy at Tsinghua University in Beijing. His other writings include Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context and East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia. [Read More]
September 25, 2009
Theorists and Jurists: Charles Halpern, "Effective and Sustainable Law Practice: the Meditative Perspective"
2:00 – 4:00 pm, Room 106, O'Brian Hall, University at Buffalo Law School
During the past decade a number of lawyers, judges and law professors have begun to explore the relevance of meditation and other contemplative practices to legal education and the work of lawyers. Courses have been offered in law schools around the country, and lawyers and judges have participated in retreats and workshops. The benefits range from managing stress at a difficult time in a high stress profession to sharpening lawyers’ skills, such as negotiation, client interviewing and trial advocacy. Meditation can heighten emotional literacy and increase the capacity to make empathetic connections. A growing body of scientific evidence is establishing the demonstrable impact on brain function and structure from regular meditation practice. Many law students are finding that the meditative perspective makes them more effective students and improves academic performance. Wisdom has historically been a quality prized by lawyers. Meditative practice can help bring wisdom into law practice and legal institutions. [Read More]
August 11th, 2009
Religion takes the stand
In conversation with Nathan Schneider, scholar of religion and law Winnifred Fallers Sullivan discusses the failure of the courts to grapple with lived religion, the crisis of prisons in the United States, and why, in some sense at least, we are all religious now. [Read the Interview]
June, 2009
Religion and Culture Web Forum
Mateo Taussig-Rubbo, anthropologist and Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo Law School, examines "how the destruction of property and life seems to [generate] a new form of value," a value frequently identified as that of the "sacred."
Focusing on the wreckage from and sites of the September 11 attacks, Taussig-Rubbo considers issues of property law and conceptions of sacrifice in an attempt to understand how this concept of sacrality comes to be and what meanings it holds within American culture. The Religion and Culture Web Forum is hosted by the the University of Chicago Divinity School's Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion.
- Invited response by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Associate Professor and Director of the Law and Religion Program, University at Buffalo Law School
- Invited response by Kristen Tobey, PhD candidate, University of Chicago Divinity School
- Invited response by Jeremy Biles, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- A response will be posted later in the month from Kathryn Lofton, Visiting Fellow, Princeton University
- Read "Sacred Property: Searching For Value in the 9/11 Rubble"
- Read more about the Religion and Culture Web Forum
May 1 - 3, 2009
Re-Describing the Sacred/Secular Divide: The Legal Story II
This conference brought together scholars of law, the humanities, and the social sciences for a sustained conversation regarding contemporary relations between law and religion. A reassessment of the social, cultural, and historical relations between law and religion is a pressing necessity given that public policy in this area is being reconsidered at every level of government in many parts of the world.
The conference began to develop the theoretical and structural models that will both deepen our understanding of the dynamics connecting law and religion, and serve as the basis for further specialized research. [Read More]
April 9, 2009
"The Yagé Tapes: Shamanism and Intellectual Property in Colombia"
Michael Taussig, Anthropology, Columbia University
Commentators: Marcus Boon, English, York University; Mark Bartholomew, UB Law; Dawson Prater, Locust Records, Chicago.
[Details and Flyer]
March 27-29, 2008
Re-describing the Sacred/Secular Divide: The Legal Story
Scholars of law, humanities, and the social sciences examined modern intersections between law and religion in society and culture. Topics included reappraisals of theories and histories of secularization, reconsiderations of the impact of secularization on religion and on law, and examination of the particular effects of the modern legal regulation of religion on actual religious and legal ideas, practices, and people. [Read More]