MWF 2:00-2:50 - Faner 3515
This course treats law as part of larger political processes. We will therefore deal with various aspects of that domain of social relations: 1) defining the social interactions to which we apply the concept of “law”; 2) how those social relationships are regularized and formalized through legal codes; and 3) how those codes are enforced.
This course has three major aims: 1) It will introduce you to the concepts used in legal anthropology; 2) it will give you an empirical and theoretical foundation to think about and evaluate legal processes in a multi-cultural setting and in plural societies; and 3) it will give you intellectual tools with which to think critically about claims that you and others make regarding legal and political processes.
The course is structured around readings, lectures, and analysis. You will be required to carry out at least one analytic task each week, relating to the readings and guest lectures.
The course is divided into 4 sections:
Weeks 1-2: A brief survey of theories of “law” and some concepts scholars have used to analyze this domain of social life.
Weeks 3-5: Studies of dispute settlement in small-scale societies.
Weeks 6-8: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison – the epistemic matrix of legal punishment
Weeks 9-16: Legal institutions in plural societies.
Requirements of the course
I.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
Other Articles and books are on reserve in the library
II. Requirements: This course is built around readings. To encourage class discussion, I require weekly brief analytical essays based on the assigned readings. There are additionally two mid-term exams and a final exam.
15 written assignments, 14 counted @ 5 points …………..….. 75.0 points
Two midterm exams @ 75 points each ……………….……. 150.0 points
Final comprehensive exams, 150 points ……………..…….. 150.0 points
Attendance used to determine borderline grades…………….. 25.0 points
400.0 points
A. Weekly written assignments. 25 percent of grade.
I believe that people learn best when they are actively engaged in the process. Class discussion is vital, so students should read all assignments before class. Most class periods we will deal with one or two articles or chapters, using your analyses as the basis for discussion.
Each week you will be assigned readings on which you are to write a 1 to 3 page analysis based on questions given you, or an outline. Your written assignment is due in class the day the article is being discussed. Late papers will not be accepted unless accompanied by legitimate written explanation and appropriate documentation.
I will grade based on:
1. How adequately you addressed the question asked. This involves both
a) comprehension in reading the assigned articles
b) ability to follow instructions
2. Style: Essays should be written in standard English, with complete sentences, coherent paragraphs, and good spelling. If diagrams or other graphics are required for the analysis, they should be neatly and legibly done. All essays are to be typed, double space, in 12 point font (Times New Roman) or 10 point font (Arial).
3. Timeliness: Late papers will not be accepted. You will receive a 0 (of a possible 5 points) for any papers not turned in on the assigned date. If you were unable to attend class, and notified me that you would be absent, late papers will be accepted with appropriate documentation. Attach explanation and documentation to late papers.
Study tip: Keep a copy of your essay to correct and amplify during class discussion, and use to study for the exams.
B. Exams. 75 points each of 2 midterm exams; 150 points comprehensive final: Exams will combine an in-class short-answer section, which will cover knowledge of terminology and other specific information; and a take-home essay section which will require synthesis of the materials covered in that section of the course and, for the final exam, the entire course.
C. Attendance policy: Class discussion is crucial to this class, and without regular attendance students cannot participate intelligently and cogently. You may miss three class periods without penalty. Every absence in excess of three will dock one-third (1/3) letter grade from your final grade.
Schedule
Week 1, Aug 21-25: Introduction.
Aug. 23. Write a brief essay on what you understand the concept “law” to refer to. Write a brief essay on what you understand the concept “politics” to refer to. These will be the basis for class discussion.
Zorn, Jean G., Lawyers, Anthropologists, and the Study of Law: Encounters in the New Guinea Highlands. Law and Social Inquiry 1990 pp. 217-304.
Pay special attention to Section I: The Evolution of Legal Anthropology, pp. 274-294.
Graduate students: Sally Falk Moore, From Lawyer’s Law into the Academic Zoo. AAA Symposium, PoLAR 22(1):101-105, May 1999 http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/pdfplus/10.1525/pol.1999.22.1.101
Assignment, Due Friday, Aug. 25: Outline pp. 274-294. Your outline should be in standard outline form.
Week 2, Aug 28 – Sept. 1.
Nader, Laura, Introduction in Law in Culture & Society 1997 (1969)
Fuller, Chris, “Legal Anthropology: Legal Pluralism and Legal Thought” Anthropology Today, Vol. 10, No. 3. (Jun., 1994), pp. 9-12. Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0268-540X%28199406%2910%3A3%3C9%3ALALPAL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9
Hoebel, E. A., Chapters 2, “What is Law?” and 4, “Fundamental Legal Concepts” in The Law of Primitive Man, by E. Adamson. Hoebel .
Graduate students: French, Rebecca R., Leopold J. Pospisil and the Anthropology of Law. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review. June 1993 16(2):1-8
Assignment. Essay due Friday, Sept. 1. Systematically compare and contrast the meanings of “law” as used in the four articles. Be sure you include the following theories or approaches: Austinian, evolutionary, legal realist, pluralist, modernization, normative, and discursive. In a systematic comparison, you should first define each approach, list its key attributes, and then seek similarities and differences among the various approaches. Be sure to note the degree to which they address states and other formal governing institutions.
Week 3, Sept. 4 (Labor Day)-8. Dispute settlement in small-scale societies
(Learning how to read ethnographic descriptions)
The following readings are from Paul Bohannan, ed. Law and Warfare: Studies in the Anthropology of Conflict.
Kenhelm Burridge, “Disputing in Tangu” pp. 205-232.
Assignment. Due Wednesday, Sept. 6 Make a kinship diagram of ALL the characters in the FIRST TWO cases in this account. Note the social obligations attached to each kin role. How does the conflict relate to these kinship relationships and the social obligations that go along with these relationships? Then analyze the different kinds of disputes involved in the four cases Burridge writes about.
Paul Bohanan, “Drumming the Scandal Among the Tiv” pp. 263-266
E. A. Hoebel, “Law-Ways of the Comanche Indians,” pp. 183-204.
Esther Warner, “A Liberian Ordeal,” pp. 271-276.
Assignment. Due Friday, Sept. 8. Which of these accounts seems more “objective” or “accurate” to you? Why? Take into account at least the following: The questions each author seeks to answer, the nature of the evidence assembled, the adequacy of the evidence and its presentation, and the position, assumed fund of knowledge, and motivations of the author.
Week 4, Sept. 11-15. Dispute resolution in more complex societies.
Gibbs, “The Kpelle Moot”, pp. 277-290
Gluckman, “The Judicial Process among the Barotse,” pp. 59-92
Warner, “A Liberian Ordeal,” pp. 271-276.
Assignment: Diagram the Barotse kuta. Who has decision-making power? What different status groups and levels of civil administration are involved?
Assignment. Due Friday, Sept. 15. Compare and contrast the Kpelle moot, the Liberian ordeal, and the Barotse kuta according these categories: 1) who are the actors – define their roles and responsibilities; 2) the institutional structure (be sure to note different judicial institutions and levels of authority); 3) the judicial process; 4) the nature of the judgment. Develop a hypothesis that explains why different actors appear in the different situations/societies.
Week 5, Sept. 18-22. Monday, Sept. 18, in-class exam. Take home exam due
Wednesday: Begin Discipline and Punish. Introduction, Part 1.1
Friday: Discipline and Punish, Part 1.2
ASSIGNMENT: To what does Foucault refer when he speaks of the "soul?" How is it related to the body? To the power of the sovereign?
Week 6, Sept. 25-29.
Monday. Discipline and Punish, Part 2.1
Wednesday, Discipline and Punish, Part 2.2
ASSIGNMENT: Summarize the changes that occurred during the 18th century: changes in the theory of punishment; changes in the nature of crime; and the social context (in, for example, the economy) of these changes.
Friday. Discipline and Punish, Part 3.1
Week 7, Oct. 2-6. Discipline and Punish,
Monday. Discipline and Punish, Part 3.2
ASSIGNMENT (based on 3.1 & 3.2: Summarize what Foucault means by the organization of time and space and the inventions of the idea of progress. How does this relate to "correct training?"
Wednesday. Discipline and Punish, Part 3.3
Friday. Discipline and Punish, Part 4.1
ASSIGNMENT: The prison aims at both control and reform. In what way is the panoptican a model for this project? How does it carry out these tasks?
Week 8, Oct. 9-13.
Monday. Discipline and Punish, Part 4.2
Wednesday. Discipline and Punish, Part 4.3
Friday. Review
ASSIGNMENT: How does Foucault distinguish the delinquent from the offender? What, in this context, is the aim of prison?
Week 9, Oct. 16-20. Monday, Oct. 15. In-class exam. Take home exam due.
Customary law and law in plural societies.
Zorn, Jean G., “Lawyers, Anthropologists, and the Study of Law: Encounters in the New Guinea Highlands.” Law & Social Inquiry 1990:17-304.
Assignment: Outline the sections of the article you did not outline Week 1, and turn that new outline in with your earlier one.
Week 10, Oct. 23-27. Customary vs. formal law
Review Fuller, “Legal Anthropology: Legal Pluralism and Legal Thought”
Sally Falk Moore, “Introduction: A time-oriented anthropology: events, processes, and history,” in Social Facts and Fabrication: ‘Customary’ Law on Kilimanjaro, 1880-1980, Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp. 1-12.
Jean G. Zorn. Custom and/or Law in
Norgren and Nanda, “Introduction: E. Plurbus Unum?” in American Cultural Pluralism and Law.
Assignment: Outline (discuss) the key issues involved in distinguishing “customary” from “formal” law. Include discussion of the complexity of clearly defining “custom.”
Week 11, Oct. 30-Nov. 3. Law and the First Americans
Note: The readings in this section may be revised.
Merrill, William L., Edmund J. Ladd, and T. J. Ferguson, “The Return of the Ahayu: da: Lessons for Repatriation from Zuni Pueblo and the Smithsonian Institution” Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 5. (Dec., 1993), pp. 523-567.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199312%2934%3A5%3C523%3ATROTAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
Cleveland, David A. and Stephen C. Murray, “The World's Crop Genetic Resources and the Rights of Indigenous Farmers,” Current Anthropology, Vol. 38, No. 4. (Aug. - Oct., 1997), pp. 477-515.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199708%2F199710%2938%3A4%3C477%3ATWCGRA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6
Biolsi, Thomas “Bringing the Law Back In: Legal Rights and the Regulation of Indian-White Relations on Rosebud Reservation.” Current Anthropology, Vol. 36, No. 4. (Aug. – Oct., 1995), pp. 543-571. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199508%2F199510%2936%3A4%3C543%3ABTLBIL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0
Assignment (Due Wednesday): Using materials in these articles, Half the class will write a one- to two-page argument that the legal discourse of individual and group “rights” should be the general standard for the settlement of disputes over control of intellectual and cultural property. The other half of the class will write a one- to two-page argument that the legal discourse of individual and group “rights” should NOT be the general standard for the settlement of disputes over control of intellectual and cultural property. You are encouraged to take a position opposite of the one you actually hold.
Week 12, Nov. 6-10. States and Indigenous Rights. GONE Nov. 8, 10 (Write on one article, but be prepared to discuss both in class)
Brysk, Alison “Turning Weakness into Strength: The Internationalization of Indian Rights.” Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 2, Ethnicity and Class in
Assignment: Pull together the articles dealing with indigenous rights and discuss the international arenas in which legal and political processes now occur.
Mertz, Elizabeth. “The Uses of History: Language, Ideology, and Law in the
Assignment: Why is the construction of history—the way the past is interpreted—important in legal relationships?
Week 13, Nov. 13-17. Law and Gender GONE 13, 15.
Williams, Patricia J., “On Being the Object of Property,” in Martha Albertson Fineman and Nancy Sweet Thomadsen, At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory.
Starr, June, “The Role of Turkish Secular Law in Changing the Lives of Rural Muslim Women, 1950-1970,” Law and Society Review 23(3)(1989):497-523.
White, Lucie E., “Subordination, Rhetorical Survival Skills, and Sunday Shoes: Notes on the Hearing of Mrs. G. [1990]” in Katharine T. Bartlett and Rosanne Kennedy, eds., Feminist Legal Theory, Westview Press, 1991, pp. 404-430.
Assignment: Summarize the different approaches to gender taken by the authors of these three articles.
Week 14, Nov. 20-24 THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 15 Nov. 27-Dec. 1.Islamic law and legal procedures
Messick, Brinkley, “The Mufti, the Text and the World: Legal Interpretation in
Bowen, John R., “Religion in the Proper Sense of the Word’: Law and Civil Society in Islamicist Discourse” Anthropology Today, Vol. 12, No. 4. (Aug., 1996), pp. 12-14. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0268-540X%28199608%2912%3A4%3C12%3A%27ITPSO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
Assignment: Drawing on these two articles, and June Starr’s article on Turkish courts, describe (1) the different arenas in which legal procedures operate, (2) the different legal/legalistic forms, and (3) the relationship (both desired and actual) between Islamic religious law and national law to the degree the articles allow you to discern or infer that relationship.
Week 16, Dec. 2 – 6. Law and Politics
Note: The readings in this section may be revised. [Substitute David Engle and Moore 1987?]
Silverman, Marilyn. “Custom, courts, and class formation: constructing the hegemonic process through the petty sessions of a southeastern Irish parish, 1828-1884. American Ethnologist 27(2)(2000):400-430.
Mark Goodale. Traversing Boundaries: New Anthropologies of Law. American Anthropologist Sep 2005 107(3):505-508 Review essay. Available through Ebsco and anthrosource: http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/pdfplus/10.1525/aa.2005.107.3.505
Norgren, Jill and Serena Nanda, Chapter 4, 100 Percent American: Who Qualifies in a National Emergency? Japanese Americans and the Law. In American Cultural Pluralism and Law. Praeger, 1996
Assignment: Law and politics are two aspects of disputes concerning public distribution of power. Compare and contrast the ways that each of these articles addresses power and the role of law in relation to it?
Final essay exam will be distributed, to be handed in with in-class final.
Week 17, Final exam. Tue. Dec. 10, 5:50-7:50 p.m.