Democracy Initiative Announces New Rotating Lab, Working Groups
The Democracy Initiative has selected a new rotating lab to begin in the fall, led by co-directors Nomi Dave (Music) and Bonnie Gordon (Music), and Anne Coughlin (UVA School of Law). The Sound Justice Lab will explore what "justice" means to ordinary people around the world, how they pursuit it through and beyond formal legal mechanisms, and what role the arts can and do play in articulating and advancing claims. The new lab will aim to bring together artists, scholars, and advocates as they examine the law's relationship with performance, creative practice, and the arts.
"As judicial systems are in crisis and democracies falter, popular demands for justice increasingly resound," Gordon said. "Citizens across the globe respond to judicial failures by making their claims publicly, creatively, and noisily. The Sound Justice Lab foregrounds art and creative practice as central forces in shaping political engagement, and it puts justice at the center of sustaining democratic experiments."
More information about the Sound Justice Lab and its efforts to put a spotlight on the important roles creative practice and interdisciplinary research on the arts can play in the Democracy Initiative's work will be featured in an upcoming feature article.
Similar to the Democracy Labs, the DI's Working Groups also study key questions about the past, present, and future of democracy — but in more of an early, exploratory way by underwriting the initial ideas to spark collaboration among College faculty and outside collaborators. Supported by a generous gift from Mary Ellen P. Barton and Scott Barton, the Democracy Initiative announced four new Working Groups:
- Economic Inequality
- LEAD (Local Equity & Democracy)
- Local Knowledge
- Paradoxes of Ancient Citizenship
The Initiative is also supporting two Working Groups related to Indigenous Studies: the Black & Indigenous Feminist Futures Institute (BIFFI) Working Group and Democratic Futures (which is receiving a second year of support). More information on the Democracy Working Groups can be found online.