Dealing with the ‘Wicked’ Problem of Race and the Law: A Critical Journey for Students (and Academics)

Abstract

Legal education in Australia is traditionally focused on teaching the 'Priestley 11' core areas of legal knowledge and the skills necessary for legal practice. More recently, a range of factors have prompted a shift in legal education towards exploring the 'broader context' in which legal issues arise, which may include a range of socio-legal considerations, such as race, culture, gender and Indigenous perspectives. 1 Yet to do so, legal educators need to move beyond doctrinal methods of teaching law, so that they can engage law students in a meaningful way, as well as in a way that can work with and through 'wicked' problems.A 'wicked' problem is defined as one that is difficult or impossible to solve because it is incomplete, contradictory and involves changing requirements that are often difficult to recognise. 2 We contend that

True Justice through deep listening on Country: decolonising legal education in Australia

“…However, students are challenged when they are asked to reflect on systemic examples of racism or how they may be complicit in structures that create racial disadvantage. In the legal education context, Indigenous academic Marcelle Burns and co-author Jennifer Nielsen discuss teaching a tertiary unit Race and the law to mostly white students at Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia (Burns & Nielsen, 2018). Burns and Nielsen (2018) explore how race is a relatively non-controversial issue when taught as a historical artefact or as something that only impacts people of colour.…”

“…In the legal education context, Indigenous academic Marcelle Burns and co-author Jennifer Nielsen discuss teaching a tertiary unit Race and the law to mostly white students at Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia (Burns & Nielsen, 2018). Burns and Nielsen (2018) explore how race is a relatively non-controversial issue when taught as a historical artefact or as something that only impacts people of colour. Things change, however, when discussions focus on contemporary racism.…”