Rules, with Swethaa Ballakrishnen

What are rules for? What's at stake if we assume that they're neutral? And if we want rules to be progressive, does it matter who makes them? Socio-legal scholar Swethaa Ballakrishnen joins Uncommon Sense to reflect on this and more, highlighting the value of studying law not just in theory but in action, and drawing on a career spanning law and academia in India and the USA.

As the author of "Accidental Feminism", which explores unintended parity in the Indian legal profession, Swethaa talks to Rosie and Alexis about intention and whether it is always needed for positive outcomes. We also ask: in a society characterised as “post-truth”, does anyone even care about rules anymore? Plus, Swethaa dissects the trope of “neutrality” – firmly embedded in legal discourse, from the idea of “blind justice” to the notion of equality before the law. There are dangers, they explain, to assuming that law is neutral, particularly given that it is often those in power who get to make and extend the rules – something critical race scholars have long been aware of.

Swethaa also fills us in on their recent interest in the TV show "Ted Lasso" and considers pop culture that speaks to our theme, including the series "Made in Heaven" and "Extraordinary Attorney Woo", plus a short film by Arun Falara.

Guest: Swethaa Ballakrishnen
Hosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu Truong
Executive Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Joe Gardner
Artwork: Erin Aniker

Find more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.

Episode Resources

From The Sociological Review

• Socio-legal Implications for Digital Environmental Activism – Audrey Verma et al.
• The Moral Rhetoric of a Civilized Society – Susanna Menis
• Depoliticisation, hybridisation and dual processes of stigmatisation – Shaoying Zhang

By Swethaa Ballakrishnen

• Accidental Feminism
• Law School as Straight Space
• Gender Regimes and the Politics of Privacy (co-authored with Kalpana Kannabiran)
• “At Odds with Everything Around Me” in Out of Place (forthcoming)
• “Of Queerness, Rights, and Utopic Possibilities” (interview) – part of Queering the (Court)Room

Further reading, viewing and listening

• “Lawyers and the Construction of Transnational Justice” – Yves Dezalay, Bryant Garth (eds)
• “Criminal Behavior as an Expression of Identity and a Form of Resistance” – Kathryne Young
• “The Language of Law School” – Elizabeth Mertz
• TV series: “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, “Ted Lasso”, “Made in Heaven”
• “Sunday” (short film)– Arun Fulara
• Uncommon Sense: Performance, with Kareem Khubchandani

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