Law and Society Association’s 2015 Annual Meeting in Seattle / proposals are due: Oct. 15.
panel: “Claiming and Contesting Vulnerability in Rural America”
Approximately one-fifth of the U.S. population lives in rural areas. Owing
largely to the industrial restructuring of the last few decades, many of
these areas contend with persistent poverty, deteriorating infrastructure,
diminished educational opportunities, unemployment or insecure employment,
and industrial waste. Yet while marginalized by initiatives and interests
that frequently fail to consider geography, the vulnerability experienced
by rural Americans often stems from more complex interactions between, and
within, rural and *other* positionalities.
This session explores the ways rural community members uniquely experience,
or are assumed to experience, vulnerability on the basis of age, class,
citizenship, gender and/or race. Specifically, panelists consider the
interplay of identity and vulnerability in the legal realm. How is
vulnerability defined? When does it matter? When are vulnerability claims
assumed, invoked, denied or resisted?and by whom? In recognizing that
multiple understandings of place, positionality and rights converge on the
contested concept of ?vulnerability,? this panel enhances interdisciplinary
work on legal advocacy, access to justice, and rural America.
If you have any interest in joining us or questions about how/whether your
work might fit, please email statzm@u.washington.edu
