| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, April 11, 2011 | 4:00PM - 6:00PM | Seminar Room 208N, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place |
B.N. Pandey Memorial Lecture 2010/2011
An informal reception follows the lecture.
This paper looks at the relationship between two of the most important archives of public modernity in India, law and cinema. Questions of legality and justice have always had a pervasive presence in Hindi cinema, and cinema has served almost as the juridical unconscious. This paper asks the question about why the courtroom emerges as such as an important space in Hindi films in the fifties, and how questions of love and justice are constantly intertwined in this period. Using Raj Kapoor’s Awara as an iconic example the paper argues for a way of reading Awara as an important constitutional text that exists in the shadows of legal history.
Lawrence Liang is a lawyer and founder of the Alternative Law Forum. ALF is a collective of lawyers working on various aspects of law, legality and power. He works on the intersection of law and cultural politics. His work on Intellectual Property looks at how the digital turn has accelerated conflicts over questions of authorship, ownership and circulation in the cultural domain. His interest in free software and media piracy led him to looking at how these practices define contemporary culture. Liang has been involved in a number of anti censorship cases and campaigns in india. He has also written on law and aesthetics. Currently finishing a book on Law, Justice and Cinema in India, Liang has also shown as an artist in Manifesta, and in collaboration with CAMP and OXDB is one of the initiators of PAD.MA (Public Access Digital Media Archive). He has most recently been involved with the Law and Social Sciences Network (‘Lassnet’). He is the author of two monographs and several articles in journals and books.
If you are attending a Munk School event and require accommodation(s), please email the event contact listed above to make appropriate arrangements.
Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.