The anthropology of law deals with the multi-faceted relationship between society, culture and law. The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the study of this relationship.
The aims of the course are twofold: first, to introduce students to the broad field of law and anthropology, with a particular focus on themes relating to the complexity and the legal challenges posed by the increasing diversity of cultures and communities within contemporary societies; second, to enable students to reflect on some of the implications for law and legal practice of an anthropological understanding of legal phenomena, normative frameworks and various legal traditions, both within and outside Europe. Ultimately the purposes of the course is to arrive at a better synthesis of the major presuppositions concerning the formation and the continuation of legal systems in different cultural settings, rural and urban, western and non-western.
The course will consist of two parts. The first part will be primarily introductory (overview of the foundational research topics and orientations in legal anthropology; the problem of the definition of ‘legal culture’; theoretical approaches in past and present legal anthropology; etc.). The second part of the course will focus on special topics (claims and rights of indigenous people and minority groups in several parts of the world and their transnationalization; the status and the protection of transnational communities; the revival of religious laws in post-secular world context; human rights and ‘contentious’ practices; the practicability of the ‘rule of law’; legal pluralism; alternative dispute resolution mechanisms; etc.).
