LAW - 992 Advocacy and the DC Foreclosure Crisis

(2-3 hrs.)

The social science of anthropology and the profession of law differ in research methods and pedagogy, but concur in regarding the persistence of social injustice as a proper focus of attention. The seminar will highlight one significant problem - the residential foreclosure crisis - as a vehicle to expose students to cross-disciplinary methods of research, forms of work product, and styles of presentation. The seminar will address the legal and institutional underpinnings of predatory lending, the securitization of mortgage products, and the historical absence of credit in poor communities. It will also engage students with members of the communities affected by foreclosure - homeowners, renters, advocates, housing counselors, elected officials, judges, and others - in defining the extent of the problem in identified neighborhoods in the District and in formulating how students can turn their disciplines’ tools to the most productive use. Bennett and B. Wlliams Spring