Theory and Method of Legal Criticism

This course envisions an academic offering not only for legal specialists and jurists, but also for diverse sectors of Latin American and Caribbean society, as well as those from other areas of the social sciences seeking to understand the legal phenomenon first as a specific manifestation of bourgeois societies and secondly as a potential for dissent. To this end, it is necessary to view law through the lens of the theoretical and methodological obfuscations that prevent us from seeing it beyond legal and judicial practices. Thus, this course, in its foundations, will be useful for academic sectors to critically understand law as it is, but also as it can be from the perspective of critical legal politics. Furthermore, it is important to note that this course, by connecting with the concrete historical reality of the peoples, will employ language and reflections that engage with the practices of peoples and communities marginalized by bourgeois society itself and its legicentric legal system. This course is also intended for community leaders who want to understand the nature of the law, why it has this idealized form disconnected from social struggles, and whether another legal system or an alternative use of law is possible in favor of popular demands. With this in mind, the general and specific objectives are as follows:

GENERAL PURPOSE
To provide categorical elements for the critical reflection of the legal phenomenon in modernity, especially starting from the legal contradictions with the concrete socio-historical reality of popular struggles in Our America.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

- To promote reflections on legal contradictions from the materiality of the political economy of law (social relations, relations of power and force, production of subjectivities);

- To stimulate political and social critical thinking from the foundations and methods of the Political Philosophy of Liberation towards a horizon of analectic transformation of the legal system;

- To study in depth the contributions of the constituent processes of the New Latin American Constitutionalism to a legal critique of modern constitutionalism.

- To enable new critical theories to impact critical legal studies;

- To understand how legal plurality manifests itself in the scenario of hegemonic legal thought with a legislative-state-centric matrix;

- To train political agents for the legal-critical praxis of popular struggles in the Latin American scenario.

• Critical Theory of Law from Latin America
• The Marxist critique of law
• State, Law and Marxism
• Autonomous and insurgent norms from Our America: Foundations and experiences
• Philosophy of Liberation and the Analytic Transformation of the Legal System
• Legal Pluralism and Social Emancipation
• Legal Pluralism and Globalization
• Another nomos: Theory of the New Latin American Constitutionalism
• Towards a decolonial turn in the New Latin American Constitutionalism
• Insurgent legalities from Latin America

• Capella, Juan Ramón (1997) Forbidden Fruit (Madrid: Editorial Trotta).
• García Barceló, Abel (1979) Society and Law (Buenos Aires: Ediciones
• Study).
• Hernández Cervantes, Aleida 2010 “The transformations of the state and of law in the context of economic globalization” Doctoral Thesis (National Autonomous University of Mexico).
• Hernández Cervantes, Aleida 2014 "The legal production of economic globalization. Notes on a transnational legal plurality." (Center for Legal and Social Studies Mispar/Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí/National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City).
• Julios-campuzano, Alfonso de, (2002) “Globalization and constitutionalism: a cosmopolitan reading”, in Annals of the Francisco Suárez Chair, no. 36, Madrid, 2002
• Lenin, Vladimir I. (1958) The State and Revolution, Collected Works
• (Buenos Aires: Editorial Cartago) Vol. XXV.
• Marx, Karl (1956) Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
• (Buenos Aires: Cartago Publishing House)
• Marx, Karl (1973) Capital (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Estudio)
• Marx, Karl 2015 “In Defense of the Wood Thieves 1842” in Bensaid, Daniel Against the Plunder of Our Lives. (Madrid: Errata Naturae).
• Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich 2013 “Manifesto of the Communist Party” in Marx, Karl. Anthology (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores).
• Medici, Alejandro 2011 Other nomes. Theory of the new Latin American constitutionalism. Prologue by Jesús Antonio de la Torre Rangel (San Luis Potosí. Aguas Calientes. CENEJUS-MDHs UASLP).
• Medici, Alejandro 2011 The malaise in legal culture. Critical essays on the politics of law and human rights. Prologue by Joaquín Herrera Flores. (La Plata. EDULP).
• Medici, Alejandro 2012 The horizontal constitution. Constitutional theory and decolonial turn. Prologue by David Sánchez Rubio (San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Chiapas. Mispat AC-Faculty of Law UASLP-Science Education in Chiapas AC).
• Medici, Alejandro 2019 “The constitution as a cultural product. Liberating cultural process and constituent power” Paper presented at the I International Conference on Critical Law Joaquín Herrera Flores (La Plata. May. MDH UASLP-IJHF-Dept. Philosophy of Law US. CiDerCrit. FCJyS. UNLP).
• Rosillo Martínez, Alejandro and Machado Fagundes, Lucas 2020 Law and Liberation: Critical legal thought from the Philosophy of Liberation (Bogotá: ILSA).
• Wolkmer, Antonio Carlos "Legal Pluralism: A New Emancipatory Framework in Latin America." in M. Villegas, & C. Rodríguez Law and Society in Latin America: A Debate on Critical Legal Studies (2003): 247-259.
• Wolkmer, Antonio Carlos 2017 Critical Theory of Law from Latin America, Translation, revision and prologue by Alejandro Rosillo Martínez (Mexico-Spain: Akal)
• Wolkmer, Antonio Carlos 2017a Legal Pluralism-Fundamentos de uma nova cultura do Direito (Saraiva Educação SA).
• Wolkmer, Antonio Carlos 2017b Introdução ao critical legal thinking (São Paulo: Saraiva Educação SA).

 

The basic requirements for taking a seminar are:

• Availability of at least 4 hours per week to dedicate to the seminar course.
• Internet access.
• Reasonable handling of communication and computer tools.
• Language proficiency in the language in which the course will be taught. The official languages ​​are Spanish and Portuguese.

The seminars last 12 weeks, plus the completion of a final project. 48 hours of work with the instructor and 90 hours of total dedication will be credited.

A course consists of twelve classes, each accompanied by required readings, supplementary readings, discussion forums, and learning activities proposed by the teaching team, as well as partial submissions and a final project. The course is delivered online and asynchronously. Some instructors may propose synchronous activities. In these cases, the time and date will be agreed upon in advance between the teaching team and the students to ensure everyone's participation. To pass the seminar, students must participate in at least 80% of the discussion forums and activities proposed by the instructors, complete all scheduled partial submissions, and pass the final project.

If you have a link with a CLACSO Associated Center:

Paying in one payment: USD 150 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).
Paying BEFORE 29/06/2021: USD 75 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

If you have a link with a Network or Institution Associated with CLACSO:
Paying in one payment: USD 190 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).
Paying BEFORE 29/06/2021: USD 95 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

If you do NOT have a link with a CLACSO Associated Center:
Paying in one payment: USD 190 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).
Paying BEFORE 29/06/2021: USD 95 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

The possible payment methods are credit card, bank transfer and bank deposit.