Law, Social Movements, and Social Change

This course explores the dynamic relationship between social movements and law, examining how movements for social change both shape and are shaped by law, policy, and deeper socio-legal transformations. Through the lens of critical legal theories, we also will interrogate the complex role of lawyers and legal advocates within social movements. Topics of focus include transformative movements for racial, gender, and economic justice, climate change and the environment, labor struggles, LGBTQ+ rights and liberation, Indigenous liberation, and emancipatory movements from the Global South. Appalachian social movements also are a central through-line of this course and intersections are explored among such regional movements and broader national and international grassroots struggles.