American University Washington College of Law presents How Legal Rhetoric Shapes the Law IIThe Language of Violence and Torture Nov. 7, 2008.
It will begin in the morning with a keynote address by Peter Brooks (Yale and Princeton). Professor Brooks is a scholar of narrative theory, co-edited Law Stories with Paul Gewirtz a few years ago, and recently has written two provocative pieces: Narrative TransactionsDoes the Law Need a Narratology? (18 Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 1) and an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled The Ethics of Reading (Feb. 8, 2008), in which he took on the analysis in the infamous torture memo. He will speak on The Ethics of Reading to kick off a day of discussing how language can be used, interpreted, manipulated to justify violence, and, perhaps, also to combat it. In the early afternoon, we will have four panelists discussing various uses of language in relation to violence, torture and human rights. Finally, and this is an innovation, we will have a workshop for legal writing teachers to discuss and work on ways to introduce these ideas in the legal writing classroom
For more information on the program, a detailed agenda and for registration fees, please contact Office of Special Events & Continuing Legal Education, 202.274.4075 – Phone; secle [at] wcl.american.edu
