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Luiza Tavares da Motta

Luiza Tavares

PhD Student

Profile

Thesis title

Tense in Law, Literature and Temporality

Supervisors

Summary of Research

This thesis aims to investigate the rhetorical roles of verb tenses in judicial decisions in the nineteenth century, more specifically in the House of Lords. To do so, this research investigates the emotional experience of time in the nineteenth century, which it does through the lens of gothic literature as a subjective attribution of meaning to reality – for this, the research focuses mainly on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

For the purposes of this thesis, verb tense is understood as a temporal-rhetorical resource in the process of legitimation of judge-made law. The emotional experience of time in the nineteenth century, as explored in this research, creates an emotional need for stability, as well as marking the

shift from past-oriented legitimacy claims to a more future-oriented legal theory. It is in this sense that this thesis identifies the uses of verb tenses as evidence and active participants in the process of legitimation of judge-made law in the nineteenth century.

Biography

PhD student funded by the HSS Principal’s Research Studentship, Luiza completed her Master of Law (LLM) in Legal History at the Université de Poitiers (France) as well as a BA in Law at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (Brazil).

During her BA, Luiza gained experience teaching Legal History and Political Economy under the initiation to teaching program held at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (Brazil). She graduated her LLM at the Université de Poitiers (France) with honours, having been awarded the Bourse Eiffel d’Excellence Académique.

Luiza’s research interests are in legal history and legal theory, more specifically in law and literature.

Publications

  • As Miseráveis de Napoléon a Hugo: as representações do feminino no direito e naliteratura da França oitocentista. 2020. In: Pesquisa, Genero e Diversidade, vol. 2. pp. 237-254. Curitiba: Íthala.
  • Violência de gênero e Lawfare: uma análise dos casos Dilma Rousseff e CristinaFernández de Kirchner. 2020. In: Pesquisa, Genero e Diversidade, vol. 1. pp. 23-37. Curitiba: Íthala.
  • Direito e Literatura: As Interações Narrativas no Romance Francês do Século XIX. 2019. In: Revista Âmbito jurídico, v. 185, p. s, 2019.
  • Violência de gênero e Lawfare: uma análise dos casos Dilma Rousseff e CristinaFernández de Kirchner. 2019. In: Revista Resenha Eleitoral - Tribunal Regional de Santa Catarina, v. 23, p. 213-229, 2019.
  • 'Escándalo, es un escándalo': el uso de la ley para la manipulación del proceso político. 2019. In: XIV Congreso Nacional de Ciencia Política “La política en incertidumbre. Reordenamientosglobales, realineamientos domésticos y la cuestión de la transparencia,” 2019, San Martín.Buenos Aires: Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político, 2019. p. 15688-15713.

Presentations in conferences

  • Law’s pasts and futures: the timeless present tense. 2023. Presentation at the Critical Legal Conference 2023: Sanctuary. Held at Durham University.
  • Tense in Law, Literature and Temporality. 2023. Presentation at the Migration within the EU Context Seen through a Multi-Disciplinary and Plurilinguistic View 2023. Held at Charles University, Czech Republic.
  • Participation in the Consultative Opinion OC-28 in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. 2020. Consultative opinion emitted about the question proposed by the State of Colombia on the interpretation of the “undefined presidential elections in the context of the Inter-American Human Rights System”, presented on September 29th, 2020.
  • 'Escándalo, es un escándalo': el uso de la ley para la manipulación del procesopolítico. 2019. Presentation at the XIV Congreso Nacional de Ciencia Política “La política en incertidumbre. Reordenamientos globales, realineamientos domésticos y la cuestión de la transparencia.” Held at San Martín. Buenos Aires: Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político.
  • Violência de Gênero e Lawfare: uma análise dos casos Dilma Rousseff e CristinaFernández de Kirchner. 2019. Presentation at the “Política por.de.para Mulheres” Congress. Held at the UniversidadeFederal do Paraná (UFPR). This article received first prize.
  • As Miseráveis de Napoléon a Hugo: as representações do feminino no direito e naliteratura da França oitocentista. 2019. Presentation at the “Política por.de.para Mulheres” Congress. Held at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). This article received an honorary prize.
  • Isto irá matar aquilo: a obra de Victor Hugo como elemento de fronteira entre Direito e Literatura na França do Século XIX. 2018. Presentation at the 26th EVINCI. Held at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR).

Teaching Experience

  • Teaching Assistant in Jurisprudence (2023-24, semester B), Queen Mary University of London
  • Teaching Assistant in Jurisprudence (2022-23), Queen Mary University of London.
  • Teaching Assistant in Legal History (2015), Universidade Federal do Paraná
  • Teaching Assistant in Political Economy (2015), Universidade Federal do Paraná.

Public engagement

  • Secretary and Treasurer of the Philosophy, Law & Politics Postgraduate Forum (2023-24).
  • Queen Mary Law Journal – Deputy Peer Reviewer (2023-24).
  • PhD Representative (2022-23), Queen Mary University of London.
  • Organised the 2022-23 Queen Mary University of London Law Postgraduate Conference “Law, Society and Inequality.”
  • Organiser of the Law and History Research Group (from 2022).

Research

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