Nov 18 2025

OSI 2026: We’re back – Celebrating Our 10th Edition!

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Since 2009, the OSI has been fostering interdisciplinary study at the intersection of law and culture. Our goal has always been to encourage critical dialogue and scholarly exchange between legal studies and the humanities. In today’s challenging global context, this mission feels more urgent than ever and we are committed to build on and continue our efforts, especially in the face of the current challenges to democratic and open societies.

From July 18–26, 2026, the Institute will once again offer a rich program combining thematic workshops, small-group seminars, and a concluding conference for up to twenty international participants, including doctoral, post-doctoral, and advanced M.A. scholars. The introductory workshop will explore the scope and potential of interdisciplinary approaches in law and the humanities. Subsequent sessions and seminars will tackle key issues in contemporary cultural legal studies, engaging with questions of rights, legal subjecthood, citizenship, migration and more.

The OSI’s central aim is to promote scholarly exchange across disciplines and to provide a forum for the critical discussion of both ongoing research and emerging ideas. Participants will have the opportunity to present their own work, receive feedback from OSI faculty, and engage in in-depth discussion in both larger and smaller group settings. The program will culminate in a two-day conference featuring invited speakers and panel sessions, highlighting the most pressing debates in law and culture today.

The OSI 2026 promises an intensive, thought-provoking, and collaborative environment—a space for new ideas, rigorous discussion, and meaningful interdisciplinary engagement. We look forward to welcoming the next generation of scholars to this landmark 10th edition of the Institute.

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Jul 11 2024

Keynote: Kerry Bystrom on “African Science Fiction and the Right to Higher Education: Tracking Precarity and Agency in Kenyan Refugee Camps”

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We are proud to announce that Kerry Bystrom will be joining our conference this year and hold a keynote on the topic “African Science Fiction and the Right to Higher Education: Tracking Precarity and Agency in Kenyan Refugee Camps”!

Kerry is Associate Professor of English and Human Rights and Associate Dean of the College at Bard College Berlin. Her research brings expertise on African and Latin American literature and cultural studies to bear on the role of storytelling and the arts more widely in processes of democratic transitions and transitional justice, human rights movements, and humanitarian campaigns. Publications include the monograph Democracy at Home in South Africa (2016) and special journal issues and edited volumes including Humanitarianism and Responsibility (2013), The Global South Atlantic (2018), South and North: Contemporary Urban Orientations (2018), and The Cultural Cold War and the Global South (2021). She is currently working on research projects on the right to higher education; inter-African migration narratives; and stolen children and the right to identity. She also works practically in the field of Higher Education in Emergencies, and holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in Higher Education in Emergencies from the University of Geneva.

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