Upcoming Keynote at Tempennton Conference, “Imagining Utopia,” Princeton University, Feb. 21

On February 21, I will present “Is the Law Hopeful?” as the keynote address at an annual conference organized by graduate students in anthropology at U Penn, Princeton and Temple Universities.  More information about the conference is here.

Here’s the abstract of my paper:

What does the law contribute to hope? Is there anything hopeful about law? What can legal studies contribute to the now vigorous debates in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies and anthropology about the nature and sources of hope in personal and social life? Rather than focus on the ends of law (social justice, economic efficiency, etc.), Riles will focus instead on the means (or techniques of the law). Through a critical engagement with the work of Hans Vaihinger, Morris Cohen and Pierre Schlag on legal fictions and legal technicalities, she argues that what is “hopeful” about law is its “As-If” quality.