Overview
- Discusses the relevance of commemorations of war for processes of legal meaning-making
- Brings together literature on collective & politics of memory with legal consciousness & legal socialization
- Draws on socio-legal methods, sociology, and historiography
Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies (PSLS)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book discusses the relationship between law and memory and explores the ways in which memory can be thought of as contributing to legal socialization and legal meaning-making. Against a backdrop of critical legal pluralism which examines the distributedness of law(s), this book introduces the notion of mnemonic legality. It emphasises memory as a resource of law rather than an object of law, on the basis of how it substantiates senses of belonging and comes to frame inclusions and exclusions from a national community on the basis of linear-trajectory and growth narratives of nationhood. Overall, it explores the sensorial and affective foundations of law, implicating memory and perceptions of belonging within this process of creating legality and legitimacy. By identifying how memory comes to shape and inform notions of law, it contributes to legal consciousness research and to important questions informing much socio-legal research.
Reviews
“Howard’s book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in the intricate relations between law, (war) memory, and the politics of identity and belonging, and specifically to those who are intrigued by what it supposedly means to be a ‘rational Australian’.” (Luigi Corrias, Journal of Law and Society, February 22, 2024)
“This book discusses the relationship between law and memory and explores the ways in which memory can be thought of as contributing to legal socialization and legal meaning-making. Against a backdrop of critical legal pluralism which examines the distributedness of law(s), this book introduces the notion of mnemonic legality. It emphasises memory as a resource of law rather than an object of law, on the basis of how it substantiates senses of belonging and comes to frame inclusions and exclusions from a national community on the basis of linear-trajectory and growth narratives of nationhood. Overall, it explores the sensorial and affective foundations of law, implicating memory and perceptions of belonging within this process of creating legality and legitimacy. By identifying how memory comes to shape and inform notions of law, it contributes to legal consciousness research, and to important questions informing much socio-legal research. This is a stimulating andinsightful examination of the relationships between law, time, and memory. Its explorations of the Anzac story and Churchill myth offer a perceptive analysis of the allures and dangers of popular mnemohistories and their mobilisation to create legal belonging and exclusion. The lessons it offers about the continuing role of commemorations in shaping law are timely and important.” (Dr Caroline Derry, Open University, UK.)“Law’s Memories forces us to acknowledge that law and collective memory work hand-in-hand, and dares us to confront the exclusionary legends that underpin our social and legal structures. In a world where national myths and legal systems are created by and for white, cis, straight, able-bodied men, this work plants a seed for how we can do better.” (Prof. Lucas Lixinski, UNSW Sydney, Australia.)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Matt Howard is Lecturer in Law at the University of Kent, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Law’s Memories
Authors: Matt Howard
Series Title: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19388-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-19387-3Published: 03 December 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-19390-3Published: 03 December 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-19388-0Published: 02 December 2022
Series ISSN: 2947-9274
Series E-ISSN: 2947-9282
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 153
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Socio-legal Studies, Memory Studies, Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History, Political Science, Political Sociology, Sociology of Culture