Elizabeth Mertz (American Bar Foundation/University of Wisconsin)Participants:
Robert P. Burns (Northwestern University)
Marianne Constable (University of California, Berkeley)
Justin B. Richland (University of California, Irvine)
Winnifred F. Sullivan (State University of New York, Buffalo)

Abstract:

Scholars from a number of different disciplines have focused on the trial as a key locus for understanding law and society. The panel will begin with an introduction to the methodological issues involved in focusing on the trial. Then scholars from diverse disciplines, including anthropology, religious studies, linguistics, law, and rhetoric, will present examples from their own work that illustrate the benefits and problems of this focus on the trial. They will also confront disciplinary differences as they compare and contrast the assumptions and methodological approaches from which they proceed in their research.