Spring 2021

The Baldy Center Podcast

Money falling from above, Stock photo via Canva Pro, 2020.

Money falling from above; stock image via Canva Pro, 2020.

Episode 15: Athena Mutua discusses ClassCrits origins and goals

Published May 5, 2021

Episode 15 features Athena Mutua, Professor and Law and Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar in the University at Buffalo School of Law. Professor Mutua discusses the origins and goals of ClassCrits, which focuses on the heterodox, or political economy approach in law. She presents the new online journal, The Journal of Law and Political Economy and discusses ways in which ClassCrits engages with ongoing and on the ground activist work in significant social issues.

Keywords: ClassCrits; Gender, Law, and Society; Inequality; Law and Economics; Law and Society; Race, Law, and Policy.

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...the line between politics and law is thin, if it exists at all. And we share this idea that class or economic material existence was interrelated with race and gender... We're motivated in part by the idea that we should be making a contribution to change, to make the society more fair, both socially and economically.”

        —Athena Mutua 

About the Speaker

Athena Mutua, Professor, Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, University at Buffalo School of Law

RESEARCH FOCUS: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; ClassCrits

Athena Mutua.

Athena Mutua

Athena Mutua, Professor, Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, University at Buffalo School of Law, writes in the areas of critical race and feminist legal theory. Her work includes the edited collection Progressive Black Masculinities (Routledge, 2006) and articles titled “Restoring Justice to Civil Rights Movement Activists: New Historiography and the ‘Long Civil Rights Era’ ” (2008); “The Rise, Development, and Future Directions of Critical Race Theory” (Denver University Law Review, 2006); and “Gender Equality and Women’s Solidarity Across Religious, Ethnic, and Class Difference in the Kenya Constitutional Review Process” in the William and Mary Journal of Women and Law (2006). The latter article involved activism and research for which she received the University of Buffalo Exceptional Scholars Young Investigator’s Award.

Mutua's article “Introducing ClassCrits: From Class Blindness to a Critical Legal Analysis of Economic Inequality” (Buffalo Law Review, 2008) explores issues of race and gender as they relate to class structures and introduces the concepts and boundaries of ClassCrits, a project she helped found. 

2020-21 Podcast Producer

Azalia Muchransyah.

Azalia Muchransyah

 

Azalia Muchransyah is a filmmaker, writer, and scholar from Indonesia. In Spring 2021 she completed her PhD in Media Study. During her time as our podcast producer, she was a PhD Candidate in Media Study at UB. Muchransyah's research investigates the status of activist media, specifically for HIV advocacy in Indonesia. Her short films have been officially selected for screening at international festivals and academic conferences.

Executive Producers

Samantha Barbas, PhD
Professor, UB School of Law
Director, The Baldy Center

Caroline Funk, PhD
Associate Director, The Baldy Center

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