Osnabrück Summer Institute on the Cultural Study of the Law

We are happy to announce that the sixth International Osnabrueck Summer Institute on the Cultural Study of the Law will be held from August 3 to 9, 2015 at the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. It aims to encourage and further promote the interdisciplinary study and research of the interrelations between law and culture, based on the idea that the extended cultural study of the law will foster profitable scholarly exchange and dialogue between legal studies and the humanities.

The Institute will offer a combination of thematic workshop sessions, small group seminars and a final symposium for 15-20 international participants (doctoral, post-doctoral and advanced M.A. – see below for eligibility). The introductory workshop will address the range and potential of interdisciplinary studies and approaches in field of law and the humanities. The remaining thematic sessions and small group seminars will focus on key issues and debates in current cultural legal studies, for example:

• The tripartite relationship between culture, cultural rights, and the nation state
• The historical emergence of dominant (legal) concepts of property as well as current struggles about culture as heritage, property and resource for creativity (including concepts such as copyright, intellectual property and authorship)
• The cultural presence and representation of the law and the role of culture in the representation and dissemination of the concept of rights (e.g. law and literature, life writing and human rights, visual culture and rights rhetoric)

The main objective of the Institute is the encouragement of scholarly exchange across disciplines and the critical debate of current research projects and work in progress. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work both within the larger group and in individual sessions with members of the OSI faculty.

Faculty for the 2015 OSI include:

• Stephen Best (Berkeley, English)
• Cristina S. Martinez (Ottawa, Visual Arts)
• Richard Perry (CSU San José / Berkeley Law)
• Leti Volpp (Berkeley Law)
• Martin Zeilinger (Toronto, OCAD)

In addition, the OSI will feature a professional workshop presenting and discussing scholarship and grant opportunities for young international researchers sponsored by the EU and the German Academic Exchange Service.

You can download the announcement poster here.

We will post more information and the program of the 2015 OSI soon. To stay tuned subscribe to our mailing list, like us on Facebook or subscribe to our RSS feed.

We have another call for papers to share, this time for the 7th annual workshop of the International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property (ISHTIP), which will take place from Joly 22-24, 2015 at the University of Pennsylvania. They seek a broad representation of international scholars as well as scholars from across the disciplines. Papers may concern trademark, patent, copyright, or related rights, including confidentiality and trade secrecy, and they may be historical or address current issues from a theoretically-informed perspective. Both established and junior scholars are encouraged to submit abstracts. The deadline for application is January 15, 2015.

We think this workshop may be of interest to many OSI alumni. You can find more information at http://www.ishtip.org/ and in the official Call for PapersISHTIP CFP final .