The Law School will host a conference this month marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of "Critical Race Theory," the assertion that Western society is characterized by persistent racial oppression and that the law plays a significant role in creating and maintaining this oppression. The conference will be held Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 13-15 in the Sterling Law Buildings, 127 Wall St.
The first explicit discussion of Critical Race Theory took place in 1987, with the publication of a symposium issue of the Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review titled "Minority Critiques of the Critical Legal Studies Movement." The movement now encompasses a loose community of scholars.
Conference participants will examine the history of Critical Race Theory, its various aspects and its future within the context of newer movements, such as "Queer Theory" and "LatCrit Theory." The event was organized by the law shools at Yale, Duke and Santa Clara universities and at the Universities of Miami, Hawaii and California at Berkeley. Participants will hail from across North America.
Conference speakers include:
Lani Guinier, a 1974 Law School alumna who is now professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania and whose nomination by President Clinton to head the Justice Department's civil rights division was publicly withdrawn.
Derrick Bell, visiting professor at New York University School of Law and author of such books as "Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Professor" and "Race, Racism and American Law."
Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia University and author of such books as "The Alchemy of Race and Rights" and "The Rooster's Egg."
Three plenary sessions will be held during the conference. The first, on Friday morning at 9 a.m., is titled "Looking Back, Looking Forward." It will feature Kimberlé Crenshaw and Mari Matsuda, with commentary from Catharine MacKinnon and Duncan Kennedy. Gerald Torres will moderate.
The Saturday morning plenary session, beginning at 9 a.m., is titled "CRT and Indigenous Peoples." Speakers at that session include John Borrows, Patricia Monture, Kekailoa Perry and Estevan Rael y Galvez. The moderator is Jo Carrillo. On Saturday at 1:30 p.m., the final plenary session, "Critical Coalitions," will feature conference organizers Harlon Dalton, Frank Valdes, Julie Su and Eric Yamamoto.
Concurrent panels are scheduled after the plenary sessions and will be held at both the Law School and the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. Offerings include "CRT and International Human Rights," "Race, Suspicion, and Criminal Law," "Breaking Ground: Sexuality Discourses and Critical Race Theory," "Race, Power, and the Reliable Verdict," "The Future of the Concept of 'Race,'" and "Crime, Race, Family, and Other Dimensions."
The general public is invited to sit in on the sessions. However, food and beverages are reserved for previously registered conference participants. For more information, see the conference web site at www.scu.edu/law/
events/papers.htm.