Talking with Theorists

Yesterday, I watched Conversations with Legal Thinkers hosted by Julen Etxabe, Canada Research Chair, Jurisprudence and Human Rights.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp0wHgIBZno

He was interviewing Rebecca Johnson.

Rebecca sent me the link, a zoom call I remember being made to her in the summer.  

That hour of conversation has been edited to one half hour.  Being her mother, I watched the link.  

I have been thinking about some of her points since then, discussing them with Bonnie.  

I am always curious about theory.  A couple of years ago I sat in a class Rebecca was teaching and she was talking about law theory through film.  She asked her students, "How many of you consider yourself theorists.  How many of you would, when asked what you do, say, "I am a law theorist."

Not a hand went up.  Not mine, either, though in my heart I was saying, yes, "I do law theory.  That is why I am sitting in this class and thinking about these films and about the law theorists Rebecca points to in her lecture."

In the video Rebecca invites all of us to think about theory again and invited us to consider the fact that we all live in theory, ... and do theory.

What did I enjoy about the film?

1. She reminded me again that all of us live in several legal orders though we may not have the language for that yet.

2. I liked the point that everytime we watch film, or listen to two people debate a point and then we add thoughts of our own to others who are listening as well, we are doing theory.

What made me nervous about the film?

1. I felt myself cringe when she referred to the drink of forgetfulness -- even though Wordsworth refers to it (Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ....).  I don't think Rebecca wasn't referring to that 'forgetting' but to a  path I have taken a little further down the line.

2. I don't even want to refer to the other cringe worth phrase.  Anyone can make a guess in the comment box below.  

Nowadays, giving 30 minutes to someone is a conscious gift, both when it is given and when it is received.  Thanks to Julen Etxabe and Rebecca for letting me listen in to their questions and answers.

Arta

PS.  For more about how Rebecca saw the interview see Conversations with Legal Theorists.  And a big thanks to Rebecca for making the links in this post to the interviews of other legal theorists.  I will have my note book out and eventually watch all of them.  What else could interest me on a lazy, warm, autumn afternoon.