CFP: Juris Diversitas Annual Conference (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, May 30 - June 1, 2016)

WHAT Unity and/or Diversity. An International, Interdisciplinary Conference on Comparative Law, Juris Diversitas Annual Conference

WHEN May 30 - June 1, 2016

WHERE Louisiana State University, Law Center, Baton Rouge, USA

Comparative legal studies have long been perceived as an engine pulling legal traditions and systems towards convergence, harmonization, and unification. Today, legal pluralism pushes towards the recognition of human and social diversity. Does this mean that we have to choose between unity and diversity, Jus unum or juris diversitas?  To what extent do pluralistic societies embrace or reject harmonization and uniformity, or simply ignore them? Do we unify or add layers, increasing the complexity of legal orders? Does history reflect a move from diversity to unity or an ongoing conflict between the two? What makes unity successful or sustainable? This is an invitation to discuss, in an interdisciplinary way, the development of laws and social norms, in the dialectical tension between the ontological unity of human beings and mankind and the plurality of individual aspirations and social arrangements.

Submissions: Panel proposals and interdisciplinary presentations are strongly encouraged, as is the participation of doctoral students and scholars from outside of the discipline of law. While parallel sessions of three twenty-minute presentations will be used, we encourage more original session structures.

Proposals should be in English or in French. Proposals of circa 250 words (or 1000 words for panel proposals) should be submitted to Professor Salvatore Mancuso at JDLSU2016@gmail.com by January 8, 2016, with a short biography listing major or relevant publications. Make this a single Word document with minimal formatting, so that proposal and biography can be copied easily into the conference program.

Registration fees: €200 or €125 for Juris Diversitas members paid up for 2016. Membership and fee payment information is available on the Juris Diversitas Blog (http://jurisdiversitas.blogspot.com/). Note that fees don’t cover travel, accommodation, or the conference dinner (€50).