2010-2011 Academic Catalog

May 05, 2024

2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ID 133 - Law and Culture

The course provides an ethnographic perspective into the interaction of law with the cultural and economic realms of social life. It explores legal institutions in their particular cultural contexts, aiming at cross-cultural comparisons and contrasts. The course examines classical and contemporary anthropological theories of the nature of law and the processes of disputing and negotiation. Ethnographic case studies of credit and debt management, property rights, and other contractual arrangements in non-Western societies illustrate the theoretical discussion. The case materials explore the innovative ways of employing local initiative in the livelihoods of the marginal and oppressed in many parts of the world. The focus is on the construction of law through culture, power, and individual agency, at local as well as transnational levels of legal processes.

Instructor: Ms. Rodima

When Offered: Offered Periodically

Faculty: TBA