Racial Justice (LAWS90320)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
Semester 2
Teaching staff:
Jaynaya Dwyer (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
In this subject, we provide students with opportunity to think deeply about the manner in which Australian law operates in relation to racialised communities in Australia, including producing categories of race and differentially distributing power and resources to shape the life chances of people and communities. We will consider popular understandings of race and racism in Australia today, and how these operate as sites of change and contestation. We will consider the role of law in racial justice movements.
As a reading group community, we will engage with a range of writing from people concerned with racialisation across disciplines, to consider how communities have experienced law as both as an instrument producing racist outcomes, and a tool for potential liberation. We will learn from leading thinking on decolonisation, intersectionality, abolition, anti-racism and contingent collaboration. We will use these resources as tools to interrogate legal texts, including influential Australian judgements and legislation, and also to imagine futures in relation to racial justice.
This subject will be taught as a reading-group with focus on facilitated group discussion and close-reading of assigned texts. All students are encouraged to consider this subject; for some it intends to expose formerly unseen aspects of the operation of law, and for others it intends to give new language and tools to familiar experiences of law.
Indicative list of principal topics:
A history of race
- Law and Australian settler-colonialism
- Race and the Australian Constitution
- Citizenship, borders and migration
Race and regulation today
- Race and property
- Carceralism and abolition
- Race, anti-discrimination and ‘special measures’
- Regulation of social movements in Australia
Resistance
- Remedies and reparations
- The politics of refusal
- Speculative writing and alternative judgement
- Solidarity and contingent-collaboration
Intended learning outcomes
Upon completion of this subject students should be able to:
- Critically discuss the history of race, whiteness and racism in Australia in relation to law and public power today.
- Critically interrogate the relationship between politics of racial justice and Indigeneity in Australia.
- Evaluate the role of law in maintaining constructs of race in Australia, as well as the utility of law and legal institutions in racial justice struggles, with close attention to key scholarly contributions and debates
- Effectively and respectfully participate in and facilitate group discussion on issues of law, race and justice.
- Critically analyse primary legal source texts through a racial justice lens.
Generic skills
- Work collaboratively as part of a community.
- Legal research capabilities .
- Technical judgement writing.
- Facilitation of group discussion.
- Reflective writing and critical analysis.
- Written and verbal communication
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Completion of a minimum of 100 credit points of core Juris Doctor coursework subjects
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Group task - facilitation and discussion
| Throughout the teaching period | 15% |
Blog Post
| During the teaching period | 20% |
Criticial Reflection and Alternative Judgement
| During the examination period | 65% |
Additional details
The due dates of assessment will be made available to students on the Assessment Schedule on the Juris Doctor Canvas LMS Community. Note, these are updated regularly.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Principal coordinator Jaynaya Dwyer Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 36 Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching requirements Please refer to Canvas LMS to check on the pre-class readings and preparatory learning activities before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 28 July 2025 to 26 October 2025 Last self-enrol date 8 August 2025 Census date 1 September 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 26 September 2025 Assessment period ends 21 November 2025 Semester 2 contact information
Teaching staff:
Jaynaya Dwyer (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
This subject has an enrolment quota. Please refer to the Juris Doctor enrolment webpage for further information about re-enrolment and subject quotas. Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for inbound study abroad and exchange students.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If subject coordinator approval is required, or for further information about Community Access Program study, please contact us
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025