Application Deadline: August 31
The Collegium Institute invites you to apply for the Fall 2021 Fellowship program in the Legal Humanities. The program welcomes a small group of fellows from the University of Pennsylvania to participate in six seminar-style discussion sessions. The discussions will be facilitated by academics and professionals in law, history, and philosophy. The seminars seek to cultivate reflection on the relationship between law and the good life, exploring questions like: How can law — its substance and practice — help us to become more fully human?
The Fall 2021 Legal Humanities Fellowship will explore these questions through the theme Human Rights and Human Dignity: Legal Theory and Vocational Practice. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." But some pretty famous philosophers have dismissed human or natural rights "as nonsense upon stilts" and no different from "belief in witches and in unicorns.” The Legal Humanities Fellowship will discuss the history and philosophy of human rights as a means of examining what it means to be fully human. The Fellowship will also feature guest facilitators and practitioners to consider how this understanding of our humanity can lead to a more humane legal profession.
Time & Dates: The meetings will take place on Tuesdays, 5:00pm–6:15pm, beginning with a special opening reception on Tuesday, September 14. This opening reception will feature keynote remarks by Judge Stephanos Bibas.
September 14: Opening Reception (Guest speaker: Judge Stephanos Bibas)
September 21: Introduction: What Are Human Rights?
September 28: Case study of Bartolomé de las Casas — natural law, medieval scholasticism, and anti-slavery as a human rights movement (Guest speaker: Prof. Terence Sweeney)
October 5: Critical Histories of Human Rights (Guest speaker: Prof. Amy Sepinwall)
October 12: Rights Discourse and Chinese Law (Guest speaker: Tiffany Barron)
October 19: Approaches to integrating Human Dignity and Human Rights into the Legal Vocation today (Panel of guest speakers: Andrew Peach, Sean-Tamba Matthew, and Caitlin Rudin)
Location: This Fellowship will meet in person in Bishop White Room, Houston Hall, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Applications: Applications are due August 31. This Fellowship is open to current Penn undergraduate and graduate students. Alumni of the Fellowship are eligible to participate again in the Fall 2021 semester, as all of the readings and speakers will be new. To learn about past semesters' speakers, readings, and topics, click here.
Questions? Please direct any questions about Legal Humanities to the Fellowship's Director, Dr. Benjamin Brady, at bbrady@collegiuminstitute.org.