The CLASS Center: About us--University of Washington

Sally Merry of NYU will give an LSJ/CLASS International Speaker Series talk on Friday, April 25th at 12:00 noon in Gowen 1A. Her talk is entitled "Law, Human Rights and Social Movements: Exploring the Justice Scaffold". More information can be found here.

Tamir Moustafa, a UW grad who participated in the CLASS program while earning his Ph.D. here, will be back on campus to give a talk on April 11th at 12:30pm in Gowen 1A. More information can be found here.

Maha Tahsin El-Taji is giving the final Israel lecture on April 8 on Israeli Arab-Palestinians between Nationality and Locality at 7:00 PM in 220 Kane Hall. Dr. El-Taji is an international human rights attorney who is earning her PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington . Having grown up as a Palestinian refugee herself, Dr. El-Taji has focused her scholarship on finding ways to better understand what citizenship means for ethnic minority groups.

Stuart Streichler will be presenting at our CLASS/LSJ Faculty Workshare series on April 4 th at 12:30pm in Gowen 1A. His talk is entitled “What Would Warren Do? A Brief Historical Comment on the Seattle Schools Case.” More information can be found here.

Susan Hirsch will be on the UW campus Friday, February 29th to give a talk for the LSJ/CLASS International Speaker Series. Her talk is entitled "Satisfying Victims: A Challenge to Global Justice." This lecture series is co-sponsored by the Center for Global Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies. Light reception to follow. Parrington Commons, 12:30pm. More information here.

Amanda Fulmer will be presenting a paper entitled "International Law and Indigenous Rights: ILO 169 and community campaigns" at the next CLASS Fellows Workshare. The grad-student only event will take place on Wednesday, February 13 from 12:30-1:30pm in Smith 40A. More details can be found here.

George Lovell will be presenting a paper (co-authored with Scott Lemieux of Hunter College) entitled "Judicial Enabling and the Co-Dependent Branches: Abortion Politics in the U.S., Canada, and Britain" for our CLASS Faculty Workshare series. The event will take place on Friday, February 8 from 12:30 – 2:00pm in Gowen 1A. More details can be found here.

Arzoo Osanloo and David Domke will be giving talks at a lecture entitled "Media Coverage of US-Iran Relations." This lecture is co-sponsored by LSJ and was spearheaded by the Iranian American Community Alliance, a local non-profit, non-religious, non-partisan organization whose mission is to strengthen the Iranian and larger Seattle community. The event will take place on Thursday, January 31 from 6:30 – 8:30pm.

Seth Greenfest will be presenting his paper "Congress, the Supreme Court,
and the Legislative Design of Judicial Review" at this year's inaugural CLASS Fellows Workshare. The event will take place on Wednesday, January 30 from 12:30 – 1:30pm in Gowen 1A. More details can be found here.

Michael McCann will be presenting his paper "Wrecked but Still Rolling: The Enduring Institution of Capital Punishment in Historical and Comparative Perspective" at our next CLASS Faculty Workshare. The event will take place on Friday, January 25 from 12:30 – 2:00pm in Gowen 1B. More details can be found here.

Gad Barzilai of CLASS and LSJ will be presenting a lecture entitled "Which Law; Whose Rationality: Forces that shape Israel and Palestine" for the UW Jewish Studies Program's upcoming lecture series, "New Interpretations of Israel: Politics, Society, Culture and Human Rights." Discussants will be fellow CLASS/LSJ members Joel Migdal and Michael McCann. The event will take place on January 24 at 7pm in Kane Hall Room 220. There will be a reception to follow. For more details about this specific talk, click here. For more details about the Lecture Series as a whole, click here.

Topics in Afghan Law and Society Part of the "Law Through Global Eyes" Lecture Series sponsored by the Afghan Legal Educators Program at the University of Washington School of Law, this talk features respected Afghan law professors Prof. Humayoun Rahimi of Balkh University, and Prof. Wali Mohammad Naseh of Kabul University. Prof. Rahimi will be discussing customary dispute resolution in Northern Afghanistan, and Prof. Naseh will be discussing legal education in Afghanistan. January 22nd, 12:30-1:20pm. William H. Gates Hall Room 115.

Update: Due to a family emergency, the Rajagopal lectures have been cancelled.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the director of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at MIT, will be visiting the UW and presenting three lectures from January 22nd to 23rd.

Jamie Mayerfeld will be presenting his paper "A Madisonian Argument for Strengthening International Human Rights Institutions: Lessons from Europe" at this year's inaugural CLASS Faculty Workshare. The event will take place on Friday, January 18 from 12:30 – 2:00pm in Gowen 1A. More details can be found here.

Nikhil Singh from the Department of History will be hosting and facilitating a conversation with Jack O'Dell, noted civil rights activist, on Monday, November 26, at 1:30 in Comm 202. This Simpson Center event is an outstanding opportunity to get an insider's perspective on the 20th Century's landmark social movements. Please join him. For more details, click here.

Marie Provine will be giving a talk entitled "Globalization at the Grassroots: The Case of Undocumented Immigrants" on Friday, November 30th at 12:30pm. The talk will be held in Gowen1A. For more details, click here.

Cesar Rodriguez will be giving a talk entitled "Law and globalization from below: Towards a postwestphalian theory of transnational legal mobilization" on Friday, November 16th at 3:00pm. The talk will be held in Gowen1A. For more details, click here.

Prosper Ndabishuriye will be giving a talk entled "Peace and Reconciliation in Burundi" on Tuesday, November 20th at 3:30-5pm. The talk is sponsored by The African Studies Program at the Jackson School of International Studies, the Center for Global Studies, the Comparative History of Ideas Program, and the Global-Local Community Action Institute of
the School of Social Work. It will be held in Thomson Hall, room 317.For more information, please visit http://jsis.washington.edu/africa/AboutUs/upcoming.shtml.

Kim Scheppele will be giving a talk entitled "The International State of Emergency " on Friday, November 2nd at 12:30pm. The talk will be held in the Allen Auditorium, which is located on the first floor of the Allen Library, east of the computers and the Circulation desk. For more information, click here.

Ronen Shamir will be giving a talk entitled "The Age of Responsibilization: On Market-Embedded Morality" on Thursday, October 11th at 12:30pm. Gowen 1A. For more information, click here.

European Constitutionalism:
National, Transnational and International Perspectives

Friday, 27 April 2007 9:30 am - 3:30 pm Peterson Room, 4th Floor Allen Library

Participants include:
Francesca Bignami (Duke University)
Rachel Cichowski (University of Washington)
Daniel Halberstam (University of Michigan)
Martin Shapiro (University of California, Berkeley)
Alec Stone Sweet (Yale University)

SPONSORED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, THE POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, AND THE LAW, SOCIETIES AND JUSTICE PROGRAM

Technology, Values, and the Justice System

Judge Donald J. Horowitz

Friday, May 4th 12:00-1:30pm Gowen 1A

Donald J Horowitz has been active in the justice and legal systems for over forty-five years, particularly involved in efforts to improve the quality and delivery of justice to all. Don chaired the Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights Committee of the Washington State Access to Justice Board, and was instrumental in the development and subsequent adoption of the Access to Justice Technology Principles by the Washington State Supreme Court. Those fundamental principles have the purpose of assuring that technology does not perpetuate or create barriers, but rather provides pathways to quality access to the Washington State justice system for all persons. Mr. Horowitz is now actively involved in the institutionalization and implementation of the Principles in order to transform their words into reality for all.

Liberalism, Governance and the Geographies of Law- May 11th & 12th 2007.

This two day conference, organized by Steve Herbert, will explore the geographic predicates and consequences of contemporary legal practice. Particular emphasis will be directed toward the exclusionary and inclusionary dynamics that arise from current practices of politics, punishment and culture. The conference features three leading scholars whose work concentrates on the intersections between law and geography; Nicholas Blomley, Susan Coutin, and Mona Lynch. Each of these guests will deliver a public presentation and lead a workshop discussion of working papers authored by graduate students at the University of Washington. This Simpson Center funded conference features work by Victoria Babbit, Anne Bonds, Julie Brugger, Jean Carmalt, John Carr, Dominic Corva, Jennifer Fredette, Arda Ibikoglu, and Tuna Kuyucu. For more information http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/projects_law0607.htm

Stuart Streichler On February 24 Stuart Streichler will give a talk entitled “Law and Society in Civil War America.” The talk will take place from 12:30-1:30 in Smith 40A.

Carline Yezer will be giving a talk entitled "Apocalyptic Rumors and Contested Memory: Understanding Peasant Opposition to the Truth Commission in Peru's Highlands." Febuary 16. Location: Thomson 317, 4:00-5:30pm.

Maria Elena Garcia will be giving a talk entitled "Race, Violence, and Inappropriate Others: The Politics of Indigeniety in the Andes." February 14. Location: Thomson 317. 4:00-5:30pm.

"After Innocence" February 9 The Seattle premier of “After Innocence” begins at 7 p.m. (Please allow at least 15 minutes for check in). Varsity Theatre, 4329 University Way NE, Seattle, Washington. This premiere will be hosted by Wilton Dedge and by Director Jessica Sanders. Wilton’s exoneration is chronicled in the film and he will be on hand to talk about his experience. Tickets: General Public $50; Friends of IPNW $100; Angels $250. $25 student tickets available; please request in advance: innocenceprojectNW@gmail.com. For more information, please visit here.

Vanessa Baird The Center for West European Studies and the Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Program present Vanessa Baird (Political Science, University of Colorado-Boulder). Baird will be discussing her current project, “Judicial Pioneers: Litigants in the Moscor Theatre Hostage Crisis.” February 3 3:30-5:00pm. Savery Hall, room 110C.

Errol Meidinger ( SUNY Buffalo Law School) will present his paper “The Administrative Law of Global Private-Public Regulation: The Case of Forestry.” January 27 12:30-1:30pm. Smith 40A.

The Law and Humanities Reading Group will be meeting to discuss Saidiya Hartman’s Scenes of Subjection. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the University Bookstore. January 26 4:30pm. Gowen 1A.

Washington State Supreme Court Justices will be holding a “town hall” style meeting with LSJ and Political Science students and faculty. January 25 1:30pm-3:00pm. Johnson 102.

Stephen Macedo On January 20 3:30pm, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and Director of the Center for Human Values at Princeton University, will be giving a talk entitled “Immigration and Social Justice.” His lecture is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and supported by the Department of Political Science. All are encouraged to attend. Savery 239.

Brownbag Lunch Discussion On October 28, CLASS held a brownbag lunch discussion of a paper by Professor Nick Blomley (Geography, Simon Fraser University) entitled "Enclosure, common-right and the property of the poor." Nick Blomley is a leading figure in the study of the relationship between geography and law. He is the author of two books, "Law, Space and the Geographies of Power" and "Unsettling the City". His current research examines issues of property, violence, and the right to public space.

Rachel Cichowski, Angelina Godoy, George Lovell, and Jamie Mayerfeld. “Human Rights in Changing Contexts.” October 18, 7:00pm. The panel will be moderated by Michael McCann. This is part of a series of panels in fall quarter organized by the Alumni Relations group in the College of Arts and Sciences. Please come. Location: UW Campus, Kane Hall, Room 130, Seattle.

Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini. “After CAFTA: The Shifting Terrain in Human Rights in Guatemala.” October 21, 3:00pm. The talk is cosponsored by LSJ. Location: UW Campus, Smith Hall, Room 120, Seattle. For more information, click here.

Mona Lynch. “The Making of a Post-Rehabilitative Penal Regime: A Case Study of Arizona 1960-Present.” May 6, 12:00-1:30. Gowen 1A. For more details, click here.

Cesar Rodriguez. "Nike’s Law: The Anti-Sweatshop Movement, Transnational Corporations, and the Struggle over International Labor Rights in the Americas." The talk will be based on a paper forthcoming in a volume co-edited by Rodriguez and Boa Santos. April 22 12:00:1:30. Gowen 1A. For more details, click here.

Laura Beth Nielsen (American Bar Foundation/Northwestern University) “License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Speech.” April 15 12:00:- 1:30. Gowen 1A. For details, click here.

Jan Hoffman French of Northwestern University will be presenting a talk entitled “Reward of Resistance: Legalizing Identity Among Descendants of Indians and Fugitive Slaves in Northeastern Brazil.” April 13 4:00pm. Gould, room 322.

Wes Pue (University of British Columbia School of Law) will be giving a talk entitled “Zoning Dissent.” April 1 12:00-1:30pm. Smith 40A. For more details, click here.

Angelina Godoy will participate in the Dialogue on the Central America Free Trade Agreement featuring US Rep. Jim McDermott. The event will feature short presentations by both proponents and opponents of CAFTA. Following the presentations, Congressman Jim McDermott, a senior Member of the Trade Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means, will join the dialogue and share his thoughts with the panelists and the audience. There will also be time for audience Q & A.Sponsored by: the International Studies Center and the Global Business Center at UW, and the World Affairs Council. March 31 7:30-9pm. Sieg 134.

Gad Barzilai will be giving a talk entitled “Transnational Violence, Terrorism/Counterterrorism, and Human Rights: The Zeitgeist of Uncertainty and Criminalization.” The talk is based on a forthcoming article, one part of which was presented in the Law and Society, Chicago [2004], in the plenary session, and other part will be presented this year in Las Vegas. March 30 12:30-1:20pm. Room 115 B & C, Law School. For more details, click here.

Angelina Godoy will be one of the presenters at “The Work of Area Studies in an Age of Pre-emptive War: America's Wars in Viet Nam, Central America, and Iraq.” March 29 2-4pm. Communications Building, room 206.

Mr. Pekka Haavisto, former Finnish Minister of the Environment, is the featured speaker at this year’s “War and the Environment” lecture. The UW’s Program on the Environment and LSJ are pleased to present Mr. Pekka Haavisto, who is currently Chairman of the United Nations Environment Programme's Post-Conflict Assessment Unit (PCAU) in Geneva, Switzerland, and he has recently been appointed to head the PCAU's Iraq Task Force. March 3.

Lisa Conant (Ph.D. UW, 1998), an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Denver, will be speaking on the transforming nature of citizenship in European democracies. Conant explores whether judges are expanding the boundaries of belonging to immigrants and resident foreigners. February 18 12:00-1:30pm. Smith 40A. For more info, click here.

Susan Whiting, Associate Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, will be presenting a talk entitled, “When the Deal Goes Sour in China: Contracting and Dispute Resolution Among Chinese Firms.” Thomson Hall, room 317. January 27 3:30-5:00pm.

Andrea Gomes, Tracy Stone, and Fadjar I. Thufail present a HUMAN RIGHTS CAREER PANEL. Learn from the experts about how to gain experience, lend service, and build careers in human rights! Savery Hall, room 211. January 27, 4:00-6:00pm.

Michael McCann will be presenting "Public Interest Litigation in a Neoliberal Age: How Politics and Media Construct and Constrict Legal Advocacy." Gates Hall (Law School), room 115. January 12, 12:30-1:20pm.

Amanda Swarr of Barnard College will be presenting a Colloquium. This is part of the job talk series for UW's Department of Women Studies.

Gad Barzilai will be presenting “Who Rules, Which Virtues? On religious Bonds, State Boundaries, and Legalism” in the Communications building room 206. Sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities. December 8 3:30pm.

Cymene Howe of the Human Sexuality and Studies Program at San Francisco State University will be presenting “Televisionary Sexualities and Transnational Identities: The Cultural Politics of Feminism and Homoerotics in Neoliberal Nicaragua.” The presentation will take place in the Communications Building, room 226. This is part of the job talk series for UW’s Department of Women Studies. December 6 3:30-5:00pm.

Alec Stone-Sweet will be giving a talk entitled “The European Legal System and Market Integration” in the Peterson Room of the Allen Library. November 30 12:30-2:00pm. For more information, click here.

Ben Fleury-Steiner will be presenting “Dying Inside: A Sociolegal Autopsy of Preventable Deaths at Limestone Prison.” Location: Smith 40A. November 12 12:30-2:00pm. For more information, click here.

David Nelken will be presenting a talk entitled “Using the Concept of Legal Culture.” Location: Smith 40A. November 5 12:30-2:00pm. For more information, click here.

John Bodley, Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University, Pullman, will be speaking at the University of Washington campus November 4, 2002, and bring us up to date on the state of indigenous cultural survival and indigenous rights, the subject of his well-known text Victims of Progress.

Gad Barzilai will be presenting a talk entitled “Law, Community, and the Politics of Rights.” Location: Gowen 1A. October 29 12:30-2:00pm. For more information, click here.

Severyns-Ravenhold Lecture Series Presents: Zainah Anwar. Anwar, the 2004 Severyns-Ravenholt lecturer and the Executive Director of “Sisters in Islam,” will be speaking on “Islam and Women’s Rights.” For further details, read the article, “Spotight: Severyns-Ravenhold Lecture Presents: Zainah Anwar.” Location: 210 Kane Hall. October 14th 7:30pm.

Lori Wallach, “Trading Away Health: The Impact of Free Trade on Public Health.” With Stephen Gloyd, Director, International health Program, UW SPHCM. Location: Health Sciences T 639. The event moderator will be our very own Angelina Godoy. October 12th 12:00 noon-1:30pm.

Somali Rights Network presents, “Restoration of Somali Democracy: A Conference to Education and Celebrate Bill Introduction.” Location: University of Washington School of Social Work, Room 305. Don’t forget to come at 4:30 for a reception with delicious Somali food! October 11 th 5:30-7:30pm.

A University of Washington Lecture Series Exploring Rights in Context.
This lecture series, culminating in an April conference, is a year long program focused on a different side of human rights in scholarship and practice. Information about the April conference is now available! click here for more information

Merhangiz Kar is a prominent Iranian attorney, writer, and activist who has been working to promote democracy, rule of law, and human rights within the framework of Islamic law in Iran since the revolution of 1979. In her speeches and writings, she has criticized discrimination against women and non-Muslims in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In April 2000, following her participation in a symposium in Berlin, she was arrested and imprisoned on charges of acting against national security interests. Last fall, she was released on bail and allowed to go abroad to seek medical treatment in the West.

(tentative title of talk: "Fighting Violence Against Women as an International Human Right- A Review of a Decade") Radhika Coomaraswamy is former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and currently serves as Chairman of the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission. She has also been deeply involved in research on ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and in the peace process.

Time of Reflection: The War in Iraq
Wednesdy, April 23, 2003 click here for info

Organized by the East Asia Center and the International Studies Center, together with the Comparative Law and Society Studies and the Asian Law Center. Fifteen distinguished speakers from around the world visited UW during the Winter and Spring quarters of 2002 to address the following questions: What is the role of law in the dual transitions taking place from authoritarianism to democracy and from state-led to market economies? What role does the "rule of law" play in economic development more broadly? For more information, download the poster advertising this event.

Ciro Correa, an agro-ecologist and MST national representative will speak on "The Worker's Party Rise to Power and Brazil's New Political Context." This event will take place on Thursday, November 14, 2002, at the U.W. campus.

Elisabeth Hilbink, Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows, and lecturer in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, presented "Constructing a Judiciary in Service of Democracy: Insights From the Chilean Case" on May 11, 2001. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California-San Diego in 1999. She was a Fullbright Scholar in Chile in 1996, and her doctoral dissertation, entitled "Legalism Against Democracy: The Political Role of the Judiciary in Chile, 1964-1994" won the Western Political Science Association's 1999-2000 Best Dissertation Award. Her research and teaching interests include comparative judicial politics, Latin American politics, democratization, transitional politics, comparative constitutionalism, and liberal and democratic theory.

Howard Gillman, specialist on constitutional history and Supreme Court politics, and Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of South California's Department of Political Science, spoke on "Bush V. Gore in the History of Supreme Court Politics", on April 27, 2001. Gillman is a recipiient of the C. Herman Pritchett Award for "best book" in the field of public law by a political scientist for The Constitution Besieged: The Rise and Demise of Lochner Era Police Powers Jurisprudence (Duke University Press, 1993). His book on judicial politics during the election dispute, The Votes That Counted: How The Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election, will be published in fall, 2001, by the University of Chicago Press.

CLASS was a sponsor for the President's Conversations About the Future:Free Speech, Dissent and Citizen Participation, presented at the University of Washington 31 March - 1 April, 2000. The event included workshops on "What Does Democracy Look Like? Dissent and the WTO in Seattle"; "The History of Protest in Washington State"; "Civic Engagement, Citizenship, and Dissent in the New Media Environment"; "Regulating Speech: No Protest Zones"; and "Challenges for Campus Organizing". The keynote address, "Civics for Democracy," was presented by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, followed by a vibrant and heady discussion period among selected faculty respondents and the audience. (Available on tape.)

This was one of the great events sponsored by CLASS along with the Department of Political Science. Over 75 attendees gathered to hear three panels lead by twelve specially invited speakers from around the world who discussed and analyzed Scheingolds contributions about The Politics of Rights, The Politics of Law and Order, and The Politics of Cause Lawyering. The intellectually charged event was followed by a grand reception, dinner, and litany of testimonies about the legacy of Scheingold as a scholar, teacher, and friend.

Neil Diamant, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Contemporary Chinese Society, Culture and Politics, Center for International Studies and the Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh, presented "Legal Culture, Power, Identity and Institutions: Four Questions on Law and Society in China and Israel", on May 15, 2000. He is the author of Revolutionizing the Family: Politics, Love, and Divorce in Urban and Rural China, 1949-1968 (Berkeley: University of California Press, December 2000).

John Cioffi is a Ph.C. in Political Science at U.C. Berkeley, later hired by UC Riverside.

Rachel Cichowski is a Ph.C. in Political Science at UC Irvine, later hired by the LSJ program and Department of Political Science at UW. Her visiting research positions include Visiting Research Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy (1998-99) and Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute, Bonn, Germany (2000). Her primary research interests include comparative law and politics, empirical democratic theory and European integration with an emphasis on the role of courts and public participation in the processes of integration and democratization in Europe. Her current research focuses on the interactions between the European Court of Justice, transnational activists and the expansion of European Union governance in the areas of women1s rights and environmental protection. This project is presently being prepared as a book manuscript entitled Litigation, Mobilization and Governance in Europe. Her research has been published in edited volumes and in various journals, including Comparative Political Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, and Women & Politics. Rachel teaches classes in comparative law and politics, European legal institutions and EU integration, law and democracy, and the politics of women's rights in comparative perspective.