All readings are linked below as PDFs or are available on reserve at the library.
Week 1 - Introduction
August 26
Why study legal anthropology?
No reading due
August 28
Lawrence Rosen. 2008. Law as Culture: An invitation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. PDF includes required chapters: Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 2 “Creating Facts.”
Read: pages 1-13, 68-130.
Film: Witchcraft among the Azande. 1981. 52 minutes. Andre Singer, director.
To watch the film, go to our Collab site and click on the Kaltura tab. Then click on the smaller tab that says “Site Library.” The film should be streaming from there.
Week 2 - Classics
Sept. 2
“The Early Classics of Legal Anthropology” selections from Malinowski, Schapera, Gluckman, Bohannan, and Pospisil. In Law and Anthropology: A Reader. Sally Falk Moore, ed. London: Blackwell.
Read: pages 65-100.
Sally Falk Moore. 2004. “Certainties Undone: Fifty Turbulent Years of Legal Anthropology, 1959-1999.” In Law and Anthropology: A Reader. Sally Falk Moore, ed. London: Blackwell.
Read: pages 346-367.
Sept. 4
Laura Nader. 1990. Harmony Ideology: Justice and Control in a Zapotec Mountain Village. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Selections including pages xv-13; 73-181.
Week 3 - American Justice
Sept. 9
Sally Engle Merry. 1990. Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working-Class Americans. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.
Read: pages 1-109.
Sept. 11
Sally Engle Merry. 1990. Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working-Class Americans. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.
Read: pages 110-182.
Week 4 - Kenyan Justice
Sept. 16
Susan Hirsch. 1998. Pronouncing and Persevering: Gender and the Discourses of Disputing in an African Islamic Court. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.
Read: pages 1-161.
Sept. 18
Susan Hirsch. 1998. Pronouncing and Persevering: Gender and the Discourses of Disputing in an African Islamic Court. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.
Read: pages 162-247.
Week 5 - Without Law?
Sept. 23
Robert Ellickson. 1994. Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Selections including pages 1-136; 280-288.
Sept. 25
Robert Ellickson. 1994. Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Selections including pages 1-136; 280-288.
* Reading previously scheduled for here are now on the additional readings page.
Week 6 - Colonizing through Law
Sept. 30
Sally Engle Merry. 2000. Colonizing Hawaii: The Cultural Power of Law. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Read: Part 1, pages 3-116.
Oct. 2
Sally Engle Merry. 2000. Colonizing Hawaii: The Cultural Power of Law. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Read: ** Only chapter 6
Allison Alexy. unpublished manuscript. Chapter four from Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan.
Week 7 - Colonizing and the Intimate
Oct. 7
Ann Laura Stoler. 2002. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California Press.
Read: pages 1-139.
Oct. 9
Ann Laura Stoler. 2002. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California Press.
Read: pages 140-218.
Week 8 - The Right to Sue
Oct. 14 - Fall Break
No class meeting
Oct. 16
David Engel. 1984. “The Oven Bird’s Song: Insiders, Outsiders, and Personal Injuries in an American Community.” Law and Society Review 18(4): 551-582.
Film: Hot Coffee. 2011. Susan Saladoff, director. 86 minutes. [Film is on Collab / Kaltura Media Gallery.]
Week 9 - Bureaucratic Violence
Oct. 21
Akhil Gupta. 2012. Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India. Durham: Duke UP.
Read: page 1-140.
Oct. 23
Akhil Gupta. 2012. Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India. Durham: Duke UP.
Read: page 141-294.
Week 10 - American Justice?
Oct. 28
Michelle Alexander. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press.
Read: pages 1-139.
Oct. 30
Michelle Alexander. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press.
Read: pages 140-262.
Week 11 - Possessions
Nov. 4
Michael Brown. 2004. Who Owns Native Culture? Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Read: pages 1-143.
Nov. 6
Michael Brown. 2004. Who Owns Native Culture? Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Read: pages 144-254.
Week 12 - Being Illegal
Nov. 11
Nicole Constable. 2014. Born Out of Place: Migrant Mothers and the Politics of International Labor. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California Press.
Read: pages 1-120.
Nov. 13
** Please meet in Clemons Library, room 320 **
Nicole Constable. 2014. Born Out of Place: Migrant Mothers and the Politics of International Labor. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California Press.
Read: pages 121-232.
Today will we have a special conversation with the author herself! Dr. Constable is kind enough to skype into our discussion. We will talk about the plans in greater detail, but please come up with questions directly to and for her. As always, you’re welcome to ask broader questions, but you might also take this opportunity to engage about the details of fieldwork.
Week 13 - Presentations
Nov. 18
Discussion about how to create a successful presentation.
No new reading due.
Nov. 20
Student Presentations -- 10 minute presentations by:
Katie, Darren, Ray, and Emily
Week 14 - Presentations
Nov. 25
Student Presentations -- 10 minute presentations by:
Christina, Kuni, Bremen, and Mac
Nov. 27
Thanksgiving break
Week 15 - Reflections
Dec. 2
Final Thoughts and Future Questions
Group reflection on what we’ve been doing. No new reading due.
Dec. 4
No class meeting because of the AAA annual conference. The conference will include many interesting panels. The one I am part of, which was organized by our own Susan McKinnon, includes legal anthropologists and will surely engage many of the themes we discussed in this course. Please join us if you’re able - “Kinship Nation State” parts 1 and 2, Thursday, Dec. 4 (today), in both the morning and evening.