On Monday morning 9/10/2023, a workshop was organized by the Department of English in the College of Languages- University of Baghdad. The workshop, under the title “The Problem of Justice through Literary Writings”, was attended by a number of faculty and staff members of the college. The lecturers in the workshop namely, Asst. Prof. Ihsan A. Mohsen, Instr. Sabah S. Jabbar and Asst. Instr. Zainab M. Abbas dealt with the concept of justice in English literature; especially the novel where they focused on the conflict between the forces of evil and good. The lecturers also explored how literary works dealt with the criticism directed to the judiciary and negative practices employed by authorities for the benefit of the rich and the powerful. Moreover, the workshop touched upon the concept of justice in the poetic works, which was embodied in the drawing of poetic images that captured the racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States of America.
The workshop sought to achieve some objectives; the most important of which was to zoom in the active role of literature in the establishment of the concept of justice and its direct or indirect repercussions through the meaning manifestations of equality , equity, and shameful phenomena, which are the outcome of the absence of this concept in the society.
The workshop reached some significant recommendations as follows:
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Justice and equity are two fundamental subjects in literature where both are used to explore various social and ethical matters.
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Literary works emerge as a means to speak out cases of oppression and suppression in the society by allowing writers , poets, and dramatists to verbalize artistically their feelings and opinions about such cases.
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Literary works may differ in their treatment of the concept of justice according to style , time ,and place, which is conducive to the enrichment of the literary experience and multiplicity of
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Literature may participate in the stimulation of the audience awareness about social justice issues, encouraging critical thinking where such works could lead to social change.
