Deskribapena

IDenti-T ENLIGHT Thematic Network webinar series

Dr Janos Fiala-Butora & IDenti-T team present: Identity & Positionality (Webinar)

With presentations and discussion based on emerging themes from:

• Dr Janos Fiala-Butora
• Grace Barnes
• Dr Mary-Ann Ciosk
• Dr Honor Tuohy

Please join us at the following link: https://docs.zoom.us/agenda/doc/aac08a11-1233-4ef5-885a-936660917dcb?from=addon
Meeting ID: 924 0511 7236
Passcode: 171326

Education naturally elicits a nexus for knowledge and identity. It is necessary then to provide a space within the classroom for the ‘development of values, goals, social roles, and worldviews’. There is a consistent interplay between identity and the scholarship of a student of international law. The various topics, such as disability law, humanitarian law and human rights law, can become a trigger for high emotions depending on personal experiences. These pressure points are nuanced and difficult to predict. Thus, to engage with emotive topics and discussions in a classroom requires a particular set of skills on the part of the teacher. 

This webinar emerges from the work of Dr Fiala-Butora working with students who are focused on mental health law. It was noticeable during classroom discussions that the students were having personal and emotional responses to many of the topics concerned. In response, a reflective class was offered. The class initially learned how students in the United States experienced learning about rape law and through this were able to integrate concepts such as trigger warnings, safe spaces and microaggressions. Next, that discussion (in the reflective class) was further engaged and developed through the theoretical concepts of a neutral topic. Lastly, the new knowledge was applied to their experiences within their sometimes-emotive mental health law class leading them in this way to the learning points.

Overall, the webinar will reflect upon this classroom situation which brings these issues to light. It is premised on the understanding that how one identifies themselves defines their substantive position. Our identity affects how we think about the topics we learn. It affects our scholarship, our advocacy positions and our classroom discussions. As scholars who face these challenges with students in our classrooms, the introspective deliberation of this situation offered in this webinar will help generate the capacity for a deeper and more distinctive comprehension for our work.