Feminist Approaches to Global Constitutionalism
Ruth Houghton is a Senior Lecturer at Newcastle Law School (Newcastle University, UK). Her research utilises law and humanities approaches, often combined with feminist methodologies, to explore ideas of constitutionalism and constitutional theory. She has published in journals such as Global Constitutionalism, the Leiden Journal of International Law, the International Journal of Law in Context and Law, Text, and Culture. Her recent work explores literary utopias, feminist utopias in literature and in film, and feminist manifestos.
About the Event
Dr. Ruth Houghton will discuss her ongoing projects on feminist constitutionalism.
Abstract:
Reflecting on current feminist work in comparative constitutional scholarship and international law, this paper explores ways of doing feminist global constitutionalism. This research highlights the emerging epistemological turn in feminist global constitutionalism that is concerned with interrogating the sources and methods used in global constitutionalism. Part of the epistemological turn is the utilisation of conversations as a methodology. This paper draws on feminist discussions of conversations, listening and silences to outline seven features that should guide feminist global constitutionalist conversations. These feminist global constitutional conversations must be ongoing and without a fixed end-point, facilitate discussion across feminisms, be global and inter-generational so as to reflect on the past and offer feminist futures, centre responsible listening, be alert to the uses and abuses of silences, and be open to other theories and disciplines as part of an ongoing process of (un)learning. Drawing on several case studies (for example, the work of Gertrude Bell in Iraq in the 1920s, the writings of Madame de Stael in revolutionary France, and the work of Beate Sirota in 1940s Japan), this paper seeks to demonstrate how these suggested methods of feminist global constitutionalism can be used.
Pre-reading:
Ruth Houghton, ‘Feminist Approaches to Global Constitutionalism’ in Anthony Lang and Antje Wiener (eds), Research Handbook on Global Constitutionalism (2nd ed, Edward Elgar 2024) (available at: https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781802200263/book-part-9781802200263-21.xml)
We hope you can join us in person for coffee/tea and cookies. If not, here are the Teams details to join online:
Meeting ID: 341 627 423 783
Passcode: qVZzQi