Event Title
Flamenco, Fascism and Legal Education: Intersecting with Country Context to Enhance Study Abroad
Location
American University Washington College of Law, Warren Building, Room NT08
Start Date
2-23-2017 3:15 PM
End Date
2-23-2017 4:40 PM
Description
Flamenco, Fascism and Legal Education: Intersecting with Country Context to Enhance Study Abroad
The purpose of this presentation is to suggest that study abroad programs need to make more of an effort to incorporate local resources, culture and history into the teaching of law and not merely treat culture or other relevant aspects of a destination country as peripheral to the teaching of Law. This presentation thus raises the question as to how universities can use culture, history and other particularities of the country where it is located to attract students, enhance the study abroad experience and create more focused educational programs.
In Spain, for example, law schools have drawn on the EU connection to offer a wide range of courses concerning European law topics, which have proven attractive to foreign students. But no law school in Spain, as far as we can tell, have sought to expand beyond the conventionality of this offering and instead offer Law classes that link to Spain´s recent past events concerning justice, crimes against humanity, the historic memory during the Franco years and its transition from dictatorship to democracy.
While Spain has an advantage of being one of the most sought after study abroad destinations, other countries such as Cambodia or Colombia, for example, are only now beginning to develop study abroad programs. But with neither of these two countries on the study abroad radars of many students, the question becomes twofold: 1) how can these schools market themselves as more attractive to potential incoming students? and; 2) how can sending schools work with off the radar schools and countries to develop programs that might offer more niche focused programming?
The answer to both these questions involves taking stock of a country´s local resources to determine whether its history, culture, etc., might be ripe for the development of Law classes not commonly found in countries more highly sought after by study abroad students. In Cambodia, for example, the presence of a transitional justice mechanism (UN tribunal) to deal with its history of genocide and crimes against humanity could lead to the development of a spectacular study abroad program for those interested in justice and post-conflict settings. The same goes for Colombia, where after 52 years of conflict, local resources could be utilized towards the development of fascinating classes confronting questions of post-conflict transition and reparations.
This presentation therefore seeks to raise questions as to how countries might utilize local resources more towards enhancing learning experiences. It also seeks to create a dialogue between U.S. and foreign law schools attending this conference about the types of programming that might be attractive to students; the impact this could have to create more focused and niched course offerings; and ultimately whether this could serve as a differentiating factor in a study abroad landscape that faces no shortage of study abroad.
Presenters:
Aviva Abramovsky, Associate Dean for International Initiatives and Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law
Dr. Adam Dubin, Assistant Professor of International Public Law and Director of LLM in International and European Business Law, Universidad Pontificia Comillas School of Law, Madrid, Spain
Ann Murphy, Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
JR Swanegan, Assistant Dean of International Programs, Stetson University College of Law
Flamenco, Fascism and Legal Education: Intersecting with Country Context to Enhance Study Abroad
American University Washington College of Law, Warren Building, Room NT08
Flamenco, Fascism and Legal Education: Intersecting with Country Context to Enhance Study Abroad
The purpose of this presentation is to suggest that study abroad programs need to make more of an effort to incorporate local resources, culture and history into the teaching of law and not merely treat culture or other relevant aspects of a destination country as peripheral to the teaching of Law. This presentation thus raises the question as to how universities can use culture, history and other particularities of the country where it is located to attract students, enhance the study abroad experience and create more focused educational programs.
In Spain, for example, law schools have drawn on the EU connection to offer a wide range of courses concerning European law topics, which have proven attractive to foreign students. But no law school in Spain, as far as we can tell, have sought to expand beyond the conventionality of this offering and instead offer Law classes that link to Spain´s recent past events concerning justice, crimes against humanity, the historic memory during the Franco years and its transition from dictatorship to democracy.
While Spain has an advantage of being one of the most sought after study abroad destinations, other countries such as Cambodia or Colombia, for example, are only now beginning to develop study abroad programs. But with neither of these two countries on the study abroad radars of many students, the question becomes twofold: 1) how can these schools market themselves as more attractive to potential incoming students? and; 2) how can sending schools work with off the radar schools and countries to develop programs that might offer more niche focused programming?
The answer to both these questions involves taking stock of a country´s local resources to determine whether its history, culture, etc., might be ripe for the development of Law classes not commonly found in countries more highly sought after by study abroad students. In Cambodia, for example, the presence of a transitional justice mechanism (UN tribunal) to deal with its history of genocide and crimes against humanity could lead to the development of a spectacular study abroad program for those interested in justice and post-conflict settings. The same goes for Colombia, where after 52 years of conflict, local resources could be utilized towards the development of fascinating classes confronting questions of post-conflict transition and reparations.
This presentation therefore seeks to raise questions as to how countries might utilize local resources more towards enhancing learning experiences. It also seeks to create a dialogue between U.S. and foreign law schools attending this conference about the types of programming that might be attractive to students; the impact this could have to create more focused and niched course offerings; and ultimately whether this could serve as a differentiating factor in a study abroad landscape that faces no shortage of study abroad.
Presenters:
Aviva Abramovsky, Associate Dean for International Initiatives and Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law
Dr. Adam Dubin, Assistant Professor of International Public Law and Director of LLM in International and European Business Law, Universidad Pontificia Comillas School of Law, Madrid, Spain
Ann Murphy, Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
JR Swanegan, Assistant Dean of International Programs, Stetson University College of Law