Sensational Jurisprudence: Visual Culture and Human Rights
Social Institutions
Legal Institutions
Alison Dundes Renteln,
Alison Dundes Renteln
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAlison Dundes Renteln,
Alison Dundes Renteln
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 14 August 2015
In 1996, Flynn noted the novelty of taking up the law as part of the study of senses: “While interest in the senses has occupied the attention of the social sciences recently, that theme has been little explored in legal discourse” (p. 1). Sensational jurisprudence poses a set of questions: “How does the law sense? What does law understand to be the nature of our senses? How does the law constitute our notions of the senses? How does law control or regulate our senses? How does law use our senses? Which senses does law use” (p. 2).
In the introduction to Law and the Senses, Bentley notes that some contributors criticize the tendency in Anglo-American law to favor visual and suggests that the hierarchy among the senses should be reconsidered (1996, pp. 8–9).
Abstract
Sensational jurisprudence is a new branch of sociolegal studies that deals with the five senses and public policy. Because the law privileges the visual, this essay examines social science research about images of suffering and the implications of these findings. The interdisciplinary scholarship about visual culture emphasizes the negative aspects of humanitarian appeals for funding to aid the distant sufferer, and it suggests that bombarding the public with graphic depictions of pitiable individuals is counterproductive. Instead, researchers ought to develop methodologies to ascertain which emotions motivate individuals to engage in global civic action.
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