Law against the State

Ethnographic Forays into Law's Transformations

Julia Eckert, Brian Donahoe, Christian Strümpell, Zerrin Özlem Biner

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781107014664
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139415644
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Human Rights
• Index: Politics & International Relations

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• LAW AGAINST THE STATE
• CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN LAW AND SOCIETY
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION: LAW’S TRAVELS AND TRANSFORMATIONS
• CHAPTER 1 JURIDIFICATION OF INDIGENOUS POLITICS
• CHAPTER 2 NAMING, CLAIMING, PROVING? THE BURDEN OF PROOF ISSUE FOR RUSSIA’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
• CHAPTER 3 HUMAN RIGHTS AND VILLAGE HEADMEN IN MALAWI: TRANSLATION BEYOND VERNACULARISATION
• CHAPTER 4 JURIDIFICATION, TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND REACHING OUT TO THE PUBLIC IN SIERRA LEONE
• CHAPTER 5 THE JURIDIFICATION OF POLITICAL PROTEST AND THE POLITICISATION OF LEGALISM IN SOUTH AFRICAN LAND RESTITUTION
• CHAPTER 6 RUMOURS OF RIGHTS
• CHAPTER 7 PUBLIC INTEREST AND PRIVATE COMPROMISES:
• CHAPTER 8 LAW AGAINST DISPLACEMENT: THE JURIDIFICATION OF TRIBAL PROTEST IN ROURKELA, ORISSA
• CHAPTER 9 DOCUMENTING ‘TRUTH’ IN THE MARGINS OF THE TURKISH STATE
• CHAPTER 10 THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY: LAW, SACRIFICE AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION IN TURKEY
• EPILOGUE: CHANGING PARADIGMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
• INDEX