The analysis of socio-legal problems through role-playing: an approach from law and literature

Abstract

Studies on law and literature have shown that both disciplines can have different points of contact, including descriptive dimensions (on the content and debates of law in literary works) and criticism (alluding to the generation of empathy through experience of the impact of law on the life of the characters in the works or referring to the interdisciplinary explanation of certain phenomena). The synergy between law and literature is possible, among other re asons, due to the fact that human experience can be considered as a nomos in which socially constructed normative issues have a present frequency. If role-playing games are understood as phenomena of literary “text”, therefore susceptible to dynamics of interaction with questions alluding to socio-legal phenomena, it is possible to use the lessons on law and literature to obtain, among others, two Objectives: a didactic one, teaching about law and its debates, and a critical one, encouraging questions about the aspects studied. The above is more feasible when addressing the narrative and simulation dimensions that role-playing games can have, especially due to the influence of the notion of agency in them, which allow for “experiences” in which the impact of the law is identified. (or his absence) about characters and third-party stakeholders. This type of interactions also allows sensitization and empathy to those who lack effective normative protection in phenomena similar to those that occur in real life. The above statements are confirmed with a case study: the reference to the world of Eberron.

Keywords

• law and literature
• pedagogy by agency
• international relations
• critical analysis of law
• role plays.