Star Wars and Conflict Resolution: Call For Chapter Proposals @NoamEbner

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Star Wars and Conflict Resolution

Editors: Noam Ebner (Creighton University) and Jen Reynolds (University of Oregon)

We seek proposals for chapters in a book combining the knowledge and science of the conflict resolution field with the rich narrative universe of the Star Wars movie saga.

Format: The book, tentatively titled Star Wars and Conflict Resolution, will be an edited collection of essays (4-5000 words each) by conflict resolution experts in academia and practice. We plan to build on the model that has successfully generated similar books in other areas, such as The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015) and Star Wars Psychology (Sterling, 2015).

Goal: We aim to share the insights and knowledge of the conflict resolution field with the general public, ranging far beyond those who find their own way to our classrooms. Pop culture opens a gateway to this audience, and Star Wars provides a particularly forceful (!) vehicle for this purpose, given that Star Wars is one of the most widespread cultural phenomena of our time, and conflict and its resolution are central to all of the saga’s narrative themes. The book will bring the conflict resolution community’s intellectual weight and signature trait of playful creativity to bear on Star Wars. Beyond reaching a wide audience, we believe that a substantively rich book, written in a light, humorous tone and animated by passion for conflict resolution and for Star Wars, will invigorate the conflict resolution field and diversify its educational materials.

Topics: You may choose any conflict resolution topic, method of inquiry, and scope of exploration you like. Conflict resolution themes that recur in the Star Wars narrative include conflict contexts, relationships, negotiation, conflict interventions, ethics, process, decision-making, and system design, to name but a few. For example, you might propose to:

• Analyze one scene through a single conflict prism (e.g., ‘The role of attribution in Obi Wan’s final encounter with Anakin’).
• Explore one concept through multiple situations from across the saga (e.g., Use the (BATNA) force: How to win at space chess or alter an Ewok village’s dinner menu’).
• Conduct a case study (e.g., ‘Wesa being friends: The Gungan-Naboo Treaty’).
• Illustrate a comprehensive model via a series of scenes (e.g., ‘R2D2 and C3P0 Get to Yes’).
• Unpack a single line from the films within the broader context of social and political identities today (e.g., Yoda: “Wars not make one great”).
As the book’s aim is to harness widely familiar material to conflict resolution topics, chapters should primarily relate to topics, characters, and scenes from the eleven Star Wars movies. Lesser-known material (books, cartoons, videogames etc., canon or non-canon) can be referenced, but should not be central to the chapter. We will provide further details on content and style to authors after acceptance.
Submission guidelines: Please send a description of your proposed chapter in about 300 words, along with your short bio or CV, to Noam Ebner (noamebner@creighton.edu) and Jen Reynolds (jwr@uoregon.edu), by December 31, 2019. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Star Wars and Law @abalsd

Via ABA For Law Students, some excellent Star Wars and Law mock trial fodder from editor Adam Music. As it's May 4, he notes that a number of law schools and universities, both in the U.S. and Canada, have prepared Star Wars-themed mock trial competitions that investigate issues raised in the films. Among them: Cornell College (Iowa) and Gonzaga Law School (Washington). More here.

Raise a glass of your favorite brew as you toast the litigants, and may the Force be with you.

A Music Prof Conducts a Tour Through the Themes of Star Wars @fmlehman @chronicle

Frank Lehman, assistant professor of music, Tufts University, has studied the music of Star Wars, composed by John Williams, and has cataloged them for us nicely here. He's an expert, so there's a lot to digest, both in his catalog and in his interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education.

When I first saw Star Wars and heard that opening theme, it brought me back to Brahms' Second Piano Concerto, with that horn solo, the rich interplay between the piano (hero?) and the orchestra. Williams' lush melodies affect me the way that Brahms does. But maybe that's just me.

Are These the Principles We're Looking For? Watching "Star Wars" and Thinking About International Relations

Roy Lee discusses international law, policy, and human rights lessons we can draw from Star Wars, here, in a column for Jurist. Mr. Lee is Legislative Counsel, Law Officers of the Crown, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.

Selected readings about Star Wars, law, and the practice of law, below:



Omar Ha-Redeye, Star Wars, Like All Things, Is Legal, at Slaw, December 27, 2015.

Timothy D. Peters, 'The Force' As Law: Mythology, Ideology and Order in George Lucas's Star Wars, 36 Australian Feminist Law Journal 125-143 (2012).

Cass Sunstein,  The World According To Star Wars (Dey Street Books, 2016).

Evan Weinberger, May the Law Be With You: Become a Legal Jedi With Star Wars, at LAW360, May 31, 2016.



And for fun:

If Star Wars Launched a Law Firm, at Above the Law, August 23, 2012.

Star Wars: Law and Order(short: parody opening credits)

May the Force Be With You (and Don't Bring a Knife To a Blaster Fight) @TheLegalGeeks

@ABAesq notes the 40th anniversary of Star Wars with this discussion from Legal Geeks of whether Han Solo shot first and whether it matters. If you aren't up on the whole "Han shot first" debate, cast your mind back to the cantina scene in Star Wars IV: A New Hope in which Han and Greedo have their little discussion over Han's failure to deliver that cargo. Surely you remember that shootout in the cantina? No? Well, read this recap, and then the Legal Geeks' analysis of Han's killing of Greedo. Is it justified?

More Legal Geeks analysis of other legal issues in Star Wars here.

And For Those of You Who Thought Star Wars Had No More Legal Issues to Consider

Here are some practical questions and answers to mull over during exam-writing/grading time, courtesy of  Ryan Nanni and Spencer Hall's A Review of Star Wars Law.

You might also want to check out Derek R. Sweet, Star Wars In the Public Square: The Clone Wars as Political Dialogue (McFarland, 2016) (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy; 50).

See also this blog's prior posts here, here, here, and here  and an earlier study by Thomson-Reuters here.

"More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine": Star Wars and the Academy @PacificStand

Max Ufberg notes (in an article dated December 17, 2015) that more than a thousand (more or less) academic articles have come out on the subject of Star Wars. He gives a few examples, but a quick Google Scholar search turns up many more intriguing titles. Scholars (and publishers) show no sign of abandoning their interest in the franchise, or the ideas the films pose. After all, it's reboot time.

Here are some.

Jeanne Cavelos, The Science of Star Wars (St. Martin's Press, 1999).

Andrew Gordon, "Star Wars": A Myth For Our Time, 6 Literature/Film Quarterly 314 (Fall 1978).

Mary S. Henderson, Star Wars: The Magic of Myth (Bantam Books, 1997) (Exhibition catalog).

Nick Jamilla, Sword Fighting in the Star Wars Universe (McFarland, 2008).

Martin Miller and Robert Sprich, The Appeals of "Star Wars": An Archetypal-Psychoanalytic View, 38 American Imago 203 (Summer 1981).

Elana Shefrin, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Participatory Fandom: Mapping New Congruencies Between the Internet and Media Entertainment Culture, 21 Critical Studies in Media Communications 261 (2004).

Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine (Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl, eds., Open Court Publishing, 2005).

Batman, Bane, and the Presidency

Law, pop culture, and the Trump presidency: the Dark Knight Rises creators discuss similarities between Bane, the Dark Knight villain, and any "Dark Knight" allusions in Trump's inaugural address.

And: Star Wars' Mark Hamill tweets out Donald Trump as the Joker.  

Engineering Ethics and Star Wars @scifipolicy @BoingBoing

The ethics of the Death Star. Discussion at BoingBoing, from SciFi Policy.

Cass Sunstein and Star Wars

Karen Sloan of the National Law Journal has published this interview with Harvard Law's Cass Sunstein on the subject of law and Star Wars, and his new book, The World According to Star Wars.
Among the revelations: Professor Sunstein's favorite Star Wars character is Darth Vader.May the Fourth, etc. etc.

 

Star Wars and Law

Adam Music (writing for the ABA) notes a number of ways that Star Wars has been used in law and pop culture and legal education. Among them: mock trials--Luke Skywalker for blowing up the Death Star and Anakin Skywalker for murdering Count Dooku. More here.

May the Fourth be with you in deed.  ;)

Why Star Wars Fascinates

Patti McCarthy, Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pacific, explores the attraction of Star Wars at theconversation.com.

Star Wars and....

Cultural studies are in the spotlight with the release of the newest Star Wars film.  According to a new study from Thomson-Reuters, nearly 1200 papers focus on "Star Wars and" sorts of themes, including Star Wars and psychology, Star Wars and religion, and Star Wars and ancient Rome. What, no Star Wars and law? You know there's at least one paper out there among the galaxies on the topic.

Link here.
For a little more, check out this blog's index.

More here from Pacific Standard.