Osnabrück Summer Institute on the Cultural Study of the Law

After last year’s participation in the ASLCH conference at Birkbeck Law School, the OSI director, Peter Schneck, will chair a panel at this year’s ASLCH conference, featuring OSI staff, conveners, and alumni. We are very much looking forward to the conference, which will take place on March 10-11 at the University of Virginia School of Law. You will find more information and the full ASLCH program here.

Besides interacting intellectually, we are in the process of organizing another get-together of OSI alumni and faculty members at the conference. If you are an alumni or faculty member and plan on attending the ASLCH conference, please let us know in advance so we can keep you posted.

In January this year, Summer Institute Coordinator Sabine N. Meyer organized a get-together of OSI staff and alumni, during which current and future research projects as well as ongoing and possible collaborations were discussed and news from the field exchanged.

We are pleased to officially announce the opening of the application platform for the 5th International Osnabrück Summer Institute (OSI), Contested Properties: Culture, Rights and the Humanities, that will take place August 4-16, 2014. Hosted by the Institute of English and American Studies (IfAA), the Summer Institute seeks to promote and examine the interdisciplinary study and research of law and culture.

Applicants should complete:

• An application form, indicating the preferred workshop.
• A statement of purpose not exceeding two pages, describing current scholarly interests, current research, and a short statement on how the Summer Institute would specifically further said interests and research.
• A curriculum vitae.

Advanced Masters students and graduate students (PhD and post-doc) interested in taking part in the OSI should submit their applications no later than March 15, 2014.

We are looking forward to your applications!

Questions
Questions about the OSI may be directed at the Summer Institute Coordinator, Dr. Sabine N. Meyer, via email. Also, please feel free to leave a comment below.

>Go to application page

At this year’s annual conference of the ASLCH (Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities) at Birkbeck Law School in London at the end of March, the Osnabrück Summer Institute’s organizers, alumni, and a faculty member hosted a panel, as well as a round table, that reflected the Institute’s ongoing contribution to the study of law and culture.

Besides interacting intellectually, participants from all four Summer Institutes, organizers, and several faculty members met in a London pub on Saturday evening discussing ongoing and possible future research projects, reminiscing about the past Summer Institutes, and discussing the formation of a closely knit Summer Institute alumni network.

For the organizers it was invigorating to hear about the lasting impact of the Institute on the scholarly work and academic careers of the former participants and about the numerous collaborations that have formed in its wake. In order to facilitate further collaboration, we are currently establishing an alumni network. Moreover, plans are being made to host panels at next year’s ASLCH conference and to gather again… then at a bar in Virginia, though!

We’re happy to announce that the 5th Osnabrück Summer Institute on the Cultural Study of the Law will be held from August 4 – 16, 2014 at the University of Osnabrück. The 5th International Osnabrück Summer Institute on the Cultural Study of the Law aims to further encourage and promote the interdisciplinary study and research of the interrelations between law and culture, based on the idea that the extended cultural study of the law will foster profitable scholarly exchange and dialogue between legal studies and the humanities. The Summer Institute was founded in 2009 and since then has hosted more than 120 students from over 80 countries.

The Osnabrück Summer Institute brings together leading scholars in the field of cultural legal studies with international graduate students from the humanities, legal studies, the social and political sciences, art, and history in order to create a high profile opportunity for the comparative study of law and culture and their complex relation. The Institute provides an effective combination of workshops, lectures, panels and presentations, both by faculty members from the participating institutions and a number of guest lecturers, specifically selected as leading experts in their respective fields. The Institute will offer placements for 20-30 international graduate students (PhD and post-doc level) for a period of two weeks. A limited number of scholarships and travel grants are available.

Most recent Summer Institute faculty included: Rosemary Coombe (York/Toronto), Fiona Macmillan (Birkbeck), Helle Porsdam (U Copenhagen), Joseph Slaughter (Columbia), and Kay Schaffer (U Adelaide).

We are inviting qualified students from all over the world whose work is concerned with the interdependence and interaction between law and culture to join a unique experience of scholarly collaboration and exchange during an intensive program with workshops, public lectures, panel discussions, and excursions.

The call for applications will open in January 2014. You can download the announcement poster here.