Project will include a ‘Private Law Queerathon’ to ‘challenge traditional legal assumptions’
A pair of law school lecturers has been awarded a research grant to “investigate the intersection of private law and queer theory.”
University College London scholar Haim Abraham and Eden Sarid of King’s College London (pictured) will use a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for their project “Queering Private Law,” according to a news release by UCL.
The project, which aims to “challenge traditional legal assumptions” and “critically examine” (private) law through a “queer lens,” is comprised of three components.
These include a website “research hub” for scholars interested in the subject matter, a “Private Law Queerathon” described as a “participatory, brainstorming-style event” which “encourage[s] new research ideas and build[s] collaborations between legal scholars and queer theorists,” and creation of a second “Queering Private Law Workshop.”
The first such workshop, led by Abraham and Sarid, discussed how to examine private law (which is associated with “economic rationality,” “advanc[ing] individuals’ autonomy and rights,” and “reli[ance] on binary norms and divisions”) via queer theory, which “emphasizes indeterminacy and social construction.”
The workshop also noted that “with few exceptions, queer theory has not been applied to critically analyse private law despite queer theory’s valuable explanatory power and tools for critique.”
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“Through these efforts, we aim to create a stable network of queer private law scholars,” said Dr Sarid. “Alongside fostering new academic relationships and conversations, this project is aimed at generating fresh ideas to diversify education and research in private law, with a particular emphasis on LGBTQI+ and queer perspectives.”
Dr Abraham added: “Examining private law through a queer lens is essential now more than ever, as the backlash against the LGBTQI+ community requires thinking about new forms of protecting and advancing LGBTQI+ rights. Queering Private Law will help identify and challenge areas where private law inadvertently perpetuates discrimination and disadvantage, expose existing power structures, and ultimately help build a more nuanced, inclusive, and just legal system.”
According to his faculty page, Abraham previously clerked at the Israeli State Attorney’s Office where he “focus[ed] on the country’s liability for harm caused by its defense forces.” His research interests include tort law, the philosophy of private law, and “critical theories.”
Sarid’s scholarly works include the articles “Don’t Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen-How Drag Queens Protect Their Intellectual Property Without Law,” “A Queer Analysis of Intellectual Property,” and “Paternity, Protection, and Pirates: A Queer Theory Analysis of Intellectual Property Metaphors.”
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IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Haim Abraham and Eden Sarid; University College London