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Project description
“The people” are sovereign; “the people’s will” must prevail; but who are “the people”?
Primary participants
Principal Investigators:
Dr Amy Russell (Department of Classics and Ancient History)
Visiting Fellows:
Professor Michèle Lowrie, University of Chicagoo
Professor Paul Pickering, Australian National University.
Dr Michael Sevel, University of Sydney Law School.
Professor Gert Jan van der Wilt, Radboud University Medical Centre.
This project, drawing on Durham’s strengths in Classics, Law, Human Geography, Politics, and History, investigates how individuals come together to form communities which are legal or social entities in themselves.
Rationale: One strand, led primarily by Classics and CNCS (who will be holding a parallel lecture series on popular sovereignty) will consider definitions of “the people” from antiquity to today, from the populus Romanus to ‘real Americans’. The second, led primarily by colleagues in Law and SGIA, will explore contemporary communities larger or smaller than the state, from the Cham people in Southeast Asia to Scottish nationalists, and from identity groups looking to find their place within a state to groups seeking recognition as part of the international community.
Project aims: The project seeks to draw prestigious visiting fellows to the project, and will feed into multiple departments’ strategic plans for internationalisation. The primary outputs will be a seven-figure grant application led by Dr Amy Russell, but an equally important goal will be developing new research areas and collaborations, and methodologies.
Fellows:
- Professor Michèle Lowrie, University of Chicagoo
- Professor Paul Pickering, Australian National University.
- Dr Michael Sevel, University of Sydney Law School.
- Professor Gert Jan van der Wilt, Radboud University Medical Centre.