News & Announcements
August 6, 2026
Virtual Working Group 2026-2027: “Histories of Law and Technology”
Virtual Working Group 2026-2027: “Histories of Law and Technology”
We are delighted to invite legal historians and historians of technology to participate in the “Histories of Law and Technology” virtual workshop during 2026–2027. The group will explore the historical relationship between law and a variety of different technologies, including agricultural, military, industrial, domestic, communication, surveillance, transportation, and reproduction. We imagine historical explorations of key sociolegal concepts such as “technology,” “invention,” and “innovation” that engage not only constitutional law and intellectual property law, but also torts, contracts, and family law (among others), while considering questions of empire, race, Indigeneity, and sovereignty.
Format: In this workshop, we will discuss pre-circulated drafts of works in progress. We will meet monthly during the September 2026–May 2027 academic year (except for December), for a total of eight meetings. We will meet at a set time (to be determined by participants). Each workshop is 1 hour in length.
Participating in the Workshop: Participation in the group is open to scholars from all backgrounds and locations interested in the history of law and technology. (While maintaining a focus on technology, the group will also welcome those working in the history of science and medicine who are also engaging with law and technology.) We especially invite junior scholars, international scholars, as well as historians of technology who would like to become involved with the ASLH. We expect participants to attend most, if not all, of the meetings.
Presenting a Paper in the Workshop: If you would like to present a work in progress in the workshop, please indicate so in your application.
To apply:
By August 31, please send the following to K.Swanson@northeastern.edu and jss2110@gmail.com with the subject line “Histories of Law and Technology”
- A brief bio (200 words max)
- A short statement explaining your interest in the topic (300 words max)
- Indication of your scheduling preferences for time of day (EST) and day of the week
- *If you want to present a paper, please provide a potential title*
Workshop Coordinator Bios:
Jason Schulman, PhD, is an adjunct instructor in History at New York University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he has taught courses on the US constitution, legal theory, and the criminal justice system. His interests are in American constitutional history, religious history, and the history of technology. He is the co-coordinator (with Amy Bix) of the CJH Scholars Working Group on Jewish History and Technology. He is the editor of Holocaust Education in America: Politics and Pedagogy, 1982–2025 (Texas Tech University Press, 2026). He was a 2025 Fulbright Scholar to Australia.
Kara W. Swanson, JD/PhD, is Professor of Law/Affiliate Professor of History at Northeastern University. Her research examines the intersections among technology, science, medicine and law throughout US history, with particular attention to intellectual property and property law, gender and sexuality, race and racism, and empire. Before coming to Northeastern, she was the Berger-Howe Fellow in Legal History at Harvard Law School. Her first book, Banking on the Body: The Market in Blood, Milk and Sperm in Modern America (Harvard University Press, 2014), was a medicolegal history of human body property. Her article “Inventing the Woman Voter: Suffrage, Ability, and Patents,” 19 J. Gilded Age & Progressive Era 559 (2020), received the Martha Trescott Prize from Society for the History of Technology. Her book-in-progress is Inventing Citizens: A Surprising History of U.S. Inventors, Patents, and Civil Rights.