Amy Hamilton (Australian National University)

A few days after the LLHAA Conference 2023 I sat behind the wheel of a car to drive the five hour trip to visit my family over the summer break. This normally routine drive was changed for me by Professor Thalia Anthony’s keynote – Carceralism, Colonialism and Necroautomobility. Thalia Anthony’s interventions sat with me as I navigated the colonial roadscape. I reflected on the colonial automobilities of the settler state that operate both literally and metaphorically. I saw the car I was driving and the vehicles around me as weapons – intricately part of the totalising logics of white possession with reference to Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s influential work. As fitting to the conference theme of Deus Ex Machina – Law, Technology, Humanities Anthony drew on the technology of the car and its role in settler colonialism – from the national imaginary of cars in the Australian psyche, registration processes, police hyper criminalisation of First Nations peoples on the road, the language of Judges and Coroners when they talk about police or white people using cars, the lack of prosecutions of police and state institutions for First Nations deaths at their hands on the roads. Yet the same technology of the car is part of prevailing Indigenous resistance in the form of community night patrols that demonstrate continuing First Nations sovereignty. A resistance that replaces coercive policing with an ethics of care and an honouring of First Nations protocols. Thalia Anthony’s keynote proved once again that law is everywhere – the cars we drive, the movies we watch, the roads we use.

What also struck me about this keynote and the other Conference sessions more generally was the dialogue created by the questions and discussions arising out of the presentations, especially comments that threaded at times the seemingly disparate so that they resonated as a whole. At the end of Anthony’s keynote, people’s questions extended ideas, picked up a point, turned it around, looked at it afresh. Necroautomobility was rethought in relation to aircraft and watercraft. And so not only in the keynote, but also in the space crafted in the HDR workshop and over the other days of the conference in the space of thoughtful questions, I witnessed law and the humanities scholarship in action – something moving, something changing and something nutted out together.

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Elizabeth Rajapakshe (La Trobe University)

To say that Deus Ex Machina was an absolutely amazing conference is an understatement. Each day of this wonderful event was filled with moments of inspiration, and it was a privilege to be among eminent scholars working within Law and Humanities. Listening to so many fascinating papers helped me reflect on and re-evaluate my own work, and overall, it proved to be an unforgettable experience. I decided to write a reflection on “Righteous Feminist Violence: The Cinematic Jurisprudence of Revenge”, chaired by Cassandra Sharp, which I was excited to attend from the time I saw it in the schedule. This is because it not only resonated the most with my own research (where I examine visual cultural texts and its production of, and engagement with, (popular) jurisprudence), but the panellists are brilliant scholars who have greatly inspired my scholarship.

Honni van Rijswijk presented on Jennifer’s Body (2009). She highlighted how the film rewrites the figure of the violated girl by making her body the site of extra-human and extra-judicial power. She added that the film could be read as a critique of social contract theories of law and as showing how liberal socio-legal processes will not provide justice or protection from violence. Karen Crawley presented on Promising Young Woman (2020). She highlighted how the narrative’s affective structure (confirming and inverting audience expectations of the rape-revenge genre) caused cruelty to the audience. She read this as paralleling the “cruel optimism” in feminist attachments to law: despite knowing that the institution fails to address sexual violence and is harmful to victims, feminists continue to invest in it. She noted how the film ends with a disappointing, moralistic stance on revenge that dismisses the legitimacy of feminist/non-violent forms of revenge, suggesting instead that revenge can only occur through law and its agents. William MacNeil presented on Carrie (1976). Analysing the film through theories and concepts of psychoanalysis, he looked at the interconnection between revenge and enjoyment – or revenge as enjoyment; while the law, as invoked by the school system and the maternal figure in the film, functions as a prohibition of “jouissance”, by embracing her feminine power (telekinesis triggered by affect) and engaging in acts of enjoyable revenge, Carrie comes to inhabit a world beyond the law and seeks her own justice.

A common theme that emerges is the idea of women’s body as a source of anxiety, but also of power. What I found most interesting is the idea that the wound, or injustice (as inflicted by the patriarchal-legal order) is the source of the revenge-seeking women’s claim to justice, and that to assert female power and agency, revenge must be embraced. Moreover, the presence of the idea of continuation (other women “taking on the baton” of revenge when the main female figures are killed) alludes to the possibilities of the formation of new feminine/feminist social contracts which can perhaps redress gendered violence. All in all, the panel was a re-assertion of the potential of film to prompt engaging debates on pressing socio-legal issues.

A painting of Themis and Nemesis, attributed to Jules Boilly (after Pierre-Paul Prud’hon). Nemesis (left) brings Crime and Villainy before Themis (right), who sits behind the bodies of a woman and her infant (bottom right) and is surrounded by Strength, Prudence, and Moderation (top right). Sources: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1882-0211-536 and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Th%C3%A9mis%22._Par_Julien_L%C3%A9opold_BOILLY_d%27apr%C3%A8s_P.P_Prud%27hon,_vers_1860_01.jpg#file)

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Quinn Edwards (University of the Sunshine Coast)

Having attended the incredible and thought-provoking Deus Ex Machina Conference, and having witnessed the level and complexity of arguments and presentations, I was left wondering what right I had as a scholar in the infancy of my study to review such a symposium. Having said that, any perspective can provide unique insight, and so it is with this disclaimer that my review of the conference will not comprise a strict re-iteration of one particular panel, and will rather extrapolate on the impression of the conference from the perspective of a first-time conference attendee and presenter.

I would like to begin by highly commending the organisation and execution of the HDR Day. The day truly set the tone for the rest of the conference, with the academic panels providing not only an incredible standard of scholarly professional conduct to aspire towards, yet also imparting great insight on method, practice and publishing. The highlight of the day for me was the mentoring session, where HDR students were grouped with seasoned academics to provide a more intimate and in-depth discussion on questions that had been raised throughout the day. The conversations fostered in that private session left me with a huge dose of inspiration, articles to read, and gratitude at the welcoming and engaging nature of the LLHAA community.

After a night of practising and tinkering with my slides, my conference stream was the first on the first day following the evocative keynote. The nerves of trying to follow such a polished presentation were not ameliorated by the quality of the presentations in my stream: ‘Jurisprudence of the Future: Speculative Subjects and Fantastic Personhood’. It was a privilege to present among such talented academics working on projects that were so relevant to my own, and the insightful questions and feedback – both constructive and positive – made me very glad that I had taken the leap in presenting.

The rest of the conference seemed to pass in a flash, with fascinating streams, really engaging social events, then going along to be enchanted by the presentation of a friend that you had only met the day or night before. Again, I would like to emphasise the collegiality that made me feel so instantly at home, and commend the LLHAA on bringing together a collection of such knowledgeable and generous people. The Deus Ex Machina conference as given me a taste of the highlights of scholarly life, and has left me wanting more. My biggest piece of advice to any aspiring or commencing HDR students would be to put yourself out there and truly get involved in everything that conferences like this have to offer. I myself cannot wait for the next one.

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Anmol Kaur Nayar (Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University)

“The greatest tragedy for any human being is going through their entire lives believing the only perspective that matters is their own.” – Doug Baldwin

I realized the power of this quote during my presence in the Deux Ex Machina Law Conference organised by LLHAA at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane in December last year. For me, the idea first effectuated during the pre-conference day – the HDR day. The panel discussions on the first day were intended to set an interactive mood between participants and organisers, paving the way for exchange of immense knowledge about different streams over the next three days.

To begin, thinking of the power of perspectives, the session – “Publishing and (not) Perishing” comes to my mind. As a researcher, one has a constant drive to share one’s findings through publications. Often, in the journey of getting published, we researchers tend to get absorbed into our version of rationality, trying to rigorously guard the essence of our research. A streak which might be perceived as “being rigid” from the editor’s end. The panel discussion on “Publishing and (not) Perishing” involved a look at the publishing process from the lens of the editor. Not only did it enhance my understanding of the process, especially from the editor’s standpoint, but it also equipped me with an approach to finely balance my perspective as a researcher against that of the editor with utmost delicacy.

I also learnt the importance of perspectives during panel session 3 of day 1 on the stream “Feminist legal scholarship to re-imagine the world: A celebration”. Apart from me, two other panelists presented during the session. The first presentation was by Sevda Clark and Guarneros – Sanchez. They presented “Making an Issue: Personal Reflections on Presenting to the UN on Australia’s Implementation of the Women’s Convention.” During the course of presentation, the audience were taken through the first hand experience of the authors in raising the issues of CEDAW implementation by Australia before the UN. Since presenters were the sole representatives from Australian NGOs, the presentation was centered around the role of NGOs as an instrument for securing women’s rights in the background of Australia’s commitments under CEDAW. The second presentation was by Inês Espinhaço Gomes, titled “‘I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman’: A Commentary of the Semenya vs. Switzerland Case”. The presentation involved an analysis of the case of professional intersex female athlete Caster Semenya, who faced disqualification from competing internationally since her naturally high levels of testosterone levels caused her to be ineligible in terms of criteria laid down in internationally established “Differences of Sex Development (DSD) Regulations”. Though in this case the European Court of Human Rights held Switzerland to be violating the right to non-discrimination under ECHR, it did not comment on the validity of DSD regulations. It is the analysis of this decision from the perspective of Queer Legal Theory and Intersectional Feminism that made this presentation so unique. Inês presented a critique of the decision from the perspective of its impact on trans and intersex women athletes within the framework of Sports Law and Human Rights. The presentation ended with the song “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy.

Two ideas kept me thinking about this panel for the days to come. Firstly, the astounding diversity of human thought on a single idea, which in case of this session, was Feminism. Secondly, the methodology of approaching different facets of this idea and its expression. Now that I reflect on this session, my biggest takeaway from it is that conflict is nothing but a mutual failure in appreciating perspectives. Conversely, would appreciation of perspectives mean the end of conflict?

My experience at the conference reminds me of C Allan Gilbert’s work “All is Vanity”, which illustrates how a single visual can produce widely contrasting perspectives.

Charles Allan Gilbert, “All is Vanity” (1892)

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Shohini Sengupta (University of New South Wales and OP Jindal Global University)

• Stream: Decolonial futures: Technologies of law and colonialism
• Panel 4, day 2 of the conference
• Speakers: Edwin Bikundo on “Law, Violence, Music, and Decolonising the Coronation Ceremony”; Maria Giannacopoulos on “‘We’re Doing Everything but Treaty’: Technologies of Law Reform in the Colonial Debtscape”; Luis Gómez Romero on “‘A World Where Many Worlds Fit’: On the Zapatista Model of a Just Society”; and Gina Masterton, Mark Brady and Kieran Tranter on “Whose Road Safety for Who?: Road Safety, Transport Injustice and Safe Mobility for First Nation Women”

What does it mean to partake in a conference panel on decolonial futures in a moment of abject colonial occupation across the world? What is a decolonial future precisely, and do we have a place in it as former and current colonial subjects? These are not mere ontological and epistemological questions but questions of techniques, of technologies of law and colonialism, as the title of the panel suggests, to get to these reconfigured imaginaries.

I am drawn to Frantz Fanon’s work on the radio in 1956 Algeria. He sees the radio, seen earlier in the douars as an imposed instrument of the French occupation, transformed into a technology of resistance. The ‘Voice of Fighting Algeria’ on the radio gave a way for Algerians to exist with the Revolution; made the Revolution exist. The future imaginaries of a nation fighting to be born from the clutches of a brutal occupation were actualized by transmuting a technology of colonialism – the radio.

I return to day 2, panel 4 of the conference. I hear four extraordinary speakers transmute an academic conference panel into a performance of decoloniality. The panel is radical in its composition and the breadth and manner of discourses that abound. Each one of the speakers narrates a deeply personal story if not theirs, then of the worlds they talk about.

The panel is equally evocative. Edwin Bikundo invites the audience to listen to the cadence and strains of coronation ceremonies, the law’s relation to the dull metre of colonial exercises stretched from the annals of history into modern law-making and statecraft. Maria Giannacopoulos speaks of Australia as a colonial ‘debtscape’, of what it means to have singular indigenous representative voices be absorbed into colonial infrastructures of law. Luis Gómez Romero invokes the (maize) heart, through images of Marcos, the mestizo spokesperson of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and the humanist hope that can be derived from their revolutionary and anti-colonial practices. Kieran invokes images of a Ranger, crunching and heaving its way through road safety norm building, of road safety itself being a social, legal, and medicalised construct, affecting indigenous populations and women disproportionately, deliberately.

When they finish, I weep from the sheer deluge of imaginations that are evoked, that are possible. I wonder what to call this experience. I settle on ‘speculative conferencing’. Speculative because it felt radical to offer an imagination that challenged the incessant advice given to early career academics and PhD students on the values of self aggrandisement on Twitter and LinkedIn. Speculative because it took networking from a solitary act of performance to a communal exercise of entanglement.

I think for the next month about this panel. I think of Fanon’s radio in 1956 Algeria. I wonder how Fanon would view the experience – perhaps conferencing not as an academic technique, just as the radio was not just a technical instrument, but perhaps as a way to emphasise the voices of resistance that emerge from it. Perhaps he would view this as a discursive approach to the practice of law and decolonial thought, of mere words that can ‘shape the world while at the same time renewing it’. Or perhaps he would view it as a necessary speculative intervention for despairing students and academics in devastating times.

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Anastasia Karagianni (Vrije Universiteit of Brussels)

I decided to write about the “Digital Period Tracking Apps: Is Your Period Tracking App as Discreet as Your Best Friend?” workshop that I attended on Wednesday 13 December 2023. In short, as participants we had to create a story about the issues our protagonist faces through using a period app and how they can be overcome. Of course, we were not limited in this worst-case scenario. We could also invent a positive-case scenario where everything works perfectly and as such the user is very satisfied by the services provided in the app. I had to come up with an aspiring influencer. Thus, the protagonist of my story was Doleraine, a 32-year old non-binary person (pronouns “they/them/their”), based in Brussels who is working in education. They love kids, but they are not ready to have a family yet. Doleraine is under gender-reassignment process.

As a person undertaking this process, they don’t feel that their needs are covered by the app. They looked for alternatives, but they didn’t find any app that could cover them. Doleraine also feels that a gender-inclusive language is not used, since they are still considered as “she”/female person in the app. However, they keep using the app, as they can easily track their period – which is so unstable since they started this process – as well as the symptoms in their mental health situation due to the influence of the hormones.

I was asked to reflect upon these challenges and provide with potential solutions. For the design of gender-inclusive apps, what is really required is the visibility of the non-binary, intersex, transgender and gender non-performing persons. Their needs should be taken into consideration. What changes in the app could signal this? More options oriented towards their needs should be provided in the app, or the use of a gender-inclusive language. More than that, I was wondering whether the design of a separate app, only for these groups of people, could be a solution…But of course not! They would feel that they are still the “Others”.

What is really clear to me is that these people have to share sensitive health data (as all health data is sensitive) and this disclosure is very traumatic and/or stigmatised for them. As such, a stronger data protection regime should be provided. The companies should provide accurate and detailed information in the Terms of Use section about how the data processing works and if it is shared with third parties.

We cannot imagine the future of the law if we do not ask these questions. If we don’t have these spaces to go through these exercises, we might not be able to envision a digital feminist future. Many thanks once again to Mark Burdon, Rachel Hews, Hayley Langsdorf and Kim Langsdorf for organising this amazing workshop!

I took the following image in the QUT campus. It looks like a digital vulva and it reminded me of this workshop.

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Law, Life, and Culture: A Review of the 2023 Deus Ex Machina Conference

Jordan Aleksander Belor (University of Sunshine Coast)

 

I think there is nothing better for a conference than to be surrounded by a diverse group of people who seek the truth behind the mysteries of law. The Deus Ex Machina conference most certainly did not fall short of this expectation, and with careful consideration, planning and diligence, all was made possible by the team who organised and managed the event. Everyone was there for each other, new ideas projecting from the new and experienced minds of legal scholarship, and it was clear from the beginning of the event that there was a well-established ethos of support.

What I have come to realise is how everyone from all walks of life present at the conference not only specialises, or is specialising, in a particular field—clearly interdisciplinary thought has also proven quite valuable here—while sharing a passion for the law. More importantly, I realised that everyone is still learning. That is, what is crucial in the serendipitous and refreshing experience Deus Ex Machina offered is the relishing in knowledge and the pursuit of truth. No matter what has been presented at the conference, all the sessions I have had the pleasure to witness displayed a level of brilliance you cannot find elsewhere especially when great minds come together to express and foster valuable ideas.

As a PhD student nearing the end of their studies, the fostering of ideas extended to mentorship. The mentoring experience during the HDR Day provided a breath of fresh air surrounding meeting personal expectations towards the project and career. The mentor also offered a sense of solace reminding us that we are here to be heard, to listen, to exchange ideas, to expand our network but most importantly to be present. To that end, the overlapping and unique topics presented at the conference informed me about my own work but also offered me some practical reflections which will carry me through my journey as a legal scholar.

 

 

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The site includes a list of members, institutional partners, teaching resources such as course syllabi, a short blog entry, and videos, past and upcoming events, news, etc..  Going forward, it will be a place for anyone interested to announce or receive information on law and humanities events, workshops, lectures or book launches.

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Edited by Peter Goodrich and Thanos Zartaloudis, this collection comes out later in June.

Returning to the map of the island of utopia, this book provides a contemporary, inventive, addition to the long history of legal fictions and juristic phantasms. Progressive legal and political thinking has for long lacked a positive, let alone a bold imaginary project, an account of what improved institutions and an ameliorated environment would look like. And where better to start than with the non-laws or imaginary legislations of a realm yet to come.

The Cabinet of Imaginary Laws is a collection of fictive contributions to the theme of conceiving imaginary laws in the vivid vein of jurisliterary invention. Disparate in style and diverse in genres of writing and performative expression, the celebrated and unknown, venerable and youthful authors write new laws. Thirty-five dissolute scholars, impecunious authors and dyspeptic artists from a variety of fields including law, film, science, history, philosophy, political science, aesthetics, architecture and the classics become, for a brief and inspiring instance, legislators of impossible norms. The collection provides an extra-ordinary range of inspired imaginings of other laws. This momentary community of radial thought conceives of a wild variety of novel critical perspectives.

The contributions aim to inspire reflection on the role of imagination in the study and writing of law. Verse, collage, artworks, short stories, harangues, lists, and other pleas, reports and pronouncements revivify the sense of law as the vehicle of poetic justice and as an art that instructs and constructs life. Aimed at an intellectual audience disgruntled with the negativity of critique and the narrowness of the disciplines, this book will appeal especially to theorists, lawyers, scholars and a general public concerned with the future of decaying laws and an increasingly derelict legal system.

More details here.

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