Instructor: Dr. Ana Vivaldi
A survey of feminist legal thought and recent developments in feminism and law, with a focus on Canada. Recommended pre-requisites: either all of GRSJ 101, GRSJ 102 or third-year standing.
Term 2
Description:
Modern nation-states are constituted around the Enlightenment’s idea that “all men have a reason” and thus, “all men should be free and equal.” A correspondent liberal discourse on merit proposed that only individual achievements would shape a person’s social position and status. However, social scientists and organized civil society have since pointed out that merit veils the structural creation of unequal positionings. If the “Equality of men” in society and as reflected in the law is still an unfinished project, as social scientists, we can contribute to understanding these inequalities while the organized civil society has acted to transform them.
This course introduces students to an advanced understanding and engagement in the interactions between law and social movements. The first part will trace class struggles and focus on the cycles of crisis generated by indigenous and black, queer and transfeminist, decolonial and environmental movements.We will trace how mobilized civil society has
been a central source for the advancement of legal frameworks that go beyond the false Universality of Western, patriarchal, white supremacy law. We will examine the salient theories explaining and informing these transformations. The second part of the course will overview some of the most salient legal transformations effected by social movements and provide a chance for detailed examination from Canada and worldwide. The third part will be a guided research process on a topic of their choice with a focus on reproductive justice.