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The Courtroom as an Affective Arrangement. Analysing Atmospheres in Courtroom Ethnography

The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (Cover)

The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (Cover)

Bens, Jonas – 2018

This article proposes a methodological approach to courtroom ethnography by developing the idea of the courtroom as an affective arrangement. In the courtroom, humans and their linguistic utterances, but also material objects and infrastructures, visuals, voices, and sounds are relationally entangled. This is the analytical entry point for ethnographically describing the atmosphere of a court proceeding without reducing atmosphere either to the result of courtroom talk or to the emotional experiences of the participants. For a thick ethnographic description of courtroom atmospheres, the ethnographer should point out how all kinds of different bodies perform in the theatre of power that is a court proceeding.

Title
The Courtroom as an Affective Arrangement
Author
Bens, Jonas
Date
2018
Identifier
DOI: 10.1080/07329113.2018.1550313
Appeared in
The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 50(3)
Language
eng
Type
Text
Size or Duration
pp. 336–355