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Law against the State Ethnographic Forays into Law's Transformations

Edited by Professor Julia Eckert · Dr Brian Donahoe · Professor Christian Strümpell · Dr Zerrin Özlem Biner
Cambridge University Press May 2012

Specifications

ISBN-13
9781107014664
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication
May 2012
Format
Hardback , 306 pages
Jurisdiction
International ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

This collection of rich, empirically grounded case studies investigates the conditions and consequences of 'juridification' – the use of law by ordinary individuals as a form of protest against 'the state'. Starting from the actual practices of claimants, these case studies address the translation and interpretation of legal norms into local concepts, actions and practices in a way that highlights the social and cultural dynamism and multivocality of communities in their interaction with the law and legal norms. The contributors to this volume challenge the image of homogeneous and primordially norm-bound cultures that has been (unintentionally) perpetuated by some of the more prevalent treatments of law and culture. This volume highlights the heterogeneous geography of law and the ways boundaries between different legal bodies are transcended in struggles for rights. Contributions include case studies from South Africa, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Turkey, India, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, the Marshall Islands and Russia.

• Dynamic, ethnographically rich case studies from across the globe

• Compelling for readers who are interested in real-life interactions with law

• Empirically grounded analysis of legal institutions across a variety of scales

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors
ix
Acknowledgements
xiv
Introduction:Law’s travels and transformations
Julia Eckert, Zerrin Özlem Biner, Brian Donahoe and Christian Strümpell
1
1     Juridification of indigenous politics
Stuart Kirsch
23
2     Naming, claiming, proving? The burden of proof issue for Russia’s indigenous peoples
Brian Donahoe
44
3     Human rights and village headmen in Malawi: translation beyond vernacularisation
Harri Englund
70
4     Juridification, transitional justice and reaching out to the public in Sierra Leone
Gerhard Anders
94
5     The juridification of political protest and the politicisation of legalism in South African land restitution
Olaf Zenker
118
6     Rumours of rights
Julia Eckert
147
7     Public interest and private compromises: the politics of environmental negotiation in Delhi, India
Amita Baviskar
171
8     Law against displacement: the juridification of tribal protest in Rourkela, Orissa
Christian Strümpell
202
9     Documenting ‘truth’ in the margins of the Turkish state
Zerrin Özlem Biner
228
10    The ones who walk away: law, sacrifice and conscientious objection in Turkey
Erdem Evren
245
Epilogue:Changing paradigms of human rights
Upendra Baxi
266
Index
286

About the Author

Professor Julia Eckert
Universität Bern, Switzerland

Dr Brian Donahoe
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Professor Christian Strümpell
Universität Heidelberg

Dr Zerrin Özlem Biner
University of Cambridge

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