About The Workshop
SW 45- Normativity, Normalcy, and Law: Critical Legal Perspectives on the Production of the ‘Normal’
Convenors: Dr. Reyda Ergün (Kadir Has University, Faculty of Law), Dr. Doğukan Bingöl (Kadir Has University, Faculty of Law), Dr. Remzi Orkun Güner (Kadir Has University, Faculty of Law)
Contact: dogukan.bingol@khas.edu.tr
The concepts of “critique” and its corresponding verb “to criticize” carry great weight, as numerous theorists and philosophical traditions have shaped them. Therefore, while their true meanings or intended methods remain a topic of philosophical debate, they continue to shape discussions and theoretical inclinations in and out of legal philosophy. Apart from Critical Legal Studies, as a renowned legal perspective that employs and implements “critique” towards contemporary legal theory, many authors from philosophy of law and social philosophy worldwide have adapted these concepts to their scholarly production and implemented them in their own accord.
This special workshop aims to bring together scholars to illustrate their individual critical approaches to the relation between normativity, normalcy, and law. Within this context, law is considered a normative order that actively participates in the production of normalcy. In this sense, law contributes to the constitution of regimes of truth that operate through structural, symbolic, or epistemic forms of violence.
Regarding normalcy as a historically contingent and political construct, this workshop questions the role of law in shaping what counts as intelligible or normal. By drawing upon social and political philosophy, feminist and queer theory, and postcolonial approaches, among others, it focuses on the methods, discursive strategies, and forms of violence through which law produces social norms, identities, subjects, and, ultimately, “normal” forms of life.
The workshop aims to spark a fresh debate on how normativity itself establishes a site of power, as well as a site of conflict and resistance. Rather than trying to present a complete picture of the critical perspectives in operation, it aims to bring several contemporary critical perspectives on the normalising effects of law to the attention of an international audience, encouraging active engagement and critical reflection.
Scope and the suggested thematic areas (not exhaustive):
- Contemporary debates on the normativity of law
- Critical perspectives on the relationship between law and violence
- Identity-producing effects of law and the human rights regime
- Gender, sexuality, and legal normalcy
- Law, health, and normalisation of bodies through legal categories
- Law and the normalisation of precarity
- Counter-normative legal strategies on the normalcy effects of law
- Race, migration, and the legal normalcy
- The juridical construction of truth
Keywords: critique, normativity, normalisation, violence, truth
Participation: All researchers are invited to submit a title and an abstract of up to 500 words by March 30, 2026, to the following e-mail address: dogukan.bingol@khas.edu.tr
Please note that:
- The official language of the workshop: English.
- Maximum number of participants: 10
- Workshop will comprise of 2 sessions.
Inclusivity: This special workshop aims to create a safe space and an inclusive academic environment. Therefore, all participants are expected to be respectful to all others, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, age, state of health, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status.
