Justice beyond the courts
Musical performance and discussion with Sam Lee, folk singer and song collector
Free entry, registration required.
Workshop Programme
1.30pm Welcome and introductory remarks: Nomi Dave and Linda Mulcahy, The Buttery
2-3 Session One: Hearing Justice Chair: Nomi Dave Showing of Palais de Justice Artist Carey Young: The sound of the Palais de Justice
3-3.20 Tea coffee and biscuits
3.20-4.00 Session Two: Unheard Voices Chair: Ellie Whittingdale Poet Damian Gorman: Will I be heard? Trauma, Stories and Healing
4.00-4.40 Session Three: Visualising Justice Chair: Linda Mulcahy Artist Rawz: Finding Justice through Art
4.40-5.00 Comfort break
5.00-5.40 Session Four: Thresholds of hearing Chair: Nomi Dave Naomi Waltham-Smith, Oxford University: Hearing outside hearings: Audibilities at the limits of judicial regimes
6-7.30 Performance by Sam Lee, The Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College Chair: Linda Mulcahy
How do people talk about and seek justice beyond formal the legal system? What does it mean to testify publicly? What role do music, sound and voice play in the articulation of injustices?
This workshop, sponsored by the Law in Societies Research Cluster at Wolfson College, Oxford, will address the role of music, testimony, sound, and voice in making justice claims beyond the courts. Bringing together artists and academics, we will consider how music and other vocal and auditory practices document experience and make demands for redress and restoration that the courts cannot or will not hear. For example, folk songs may serve as archives of women’s rights and complaints, while hip hop or poetry may put forward the claims of people marginalised by the law. Survivors of sexual abuse may also use creative forms of testimony when they feel they are silenced by formal institutions and actors. These examples highlight the often-fraught relationship between formal testimony and listening. They also showcase the ways in which artists and ordinary citizens find extra-legal means to tell their stories about injustices. Drawing attention to voice and sound in and around the courts, we will think together about what sound and listening mean for justice.
The workshop will culminate with an evening performance and conversation by renowned folk singer, writer, and activist, Sam Lee. Sam will perform and speak about his work as a song collector, in the UK and beyond, to bring life to stories contained within song.
