For the first time ever, the international forensic and legal linguistics conference will be hosted in South Africa, Cape Town at the University of the Western Cape. Dr Zakeera Docrat who is the Indigenous Languages Action Forum Chairperson is also the Conference Chairperson for the 17th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics which will be hosted by UWC on the 30th June to 4th July 2025. The theme of the conference is Transformative Justice Through A Forensic And Legal Linguistics Lens.
The first call for papers has gone out. The submission deadline is 29 November 2024. Abstracts for individual papers must be no longer than 300 words including references. Individual papers will be allocated 20 minutes for presentation and an additional 10 minutes for questions. Abstracts may be submitted in isiXhosa or Afrikaans, however, an English translated abstract at the time of submission will be required.
There will be five panel discussions, scheduled for the duration of the conference. There will be no parallel sessions or workshops during panel discussions. Each panel will comprise of 4 panelists. The panels are an opportunity for emerging scholars and legal professionals to share innovative research and provide insights from various legal systems. The panelists will be announced in due course.
The five panel themes are:
- Courtroom discourse (language of record) and legal education.
- Gender Based Violence, vulnerable witnesses and sex crimes.
- Hate speech and hate crimes.
- Police statement taking and investigations.
- Interpreting, translation and technology.
This link provides further details 17th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Forensic & LegalLinguistics (IAFLL) – Transformative Justice Through A Forensic And Legal Linguistics Lens | IAFLL.
Email contact: info@aafll.co.za.
Social media: @zakeera_d can be reached via X.
