The Trials and Triumphs of Teaching Legal Anthropology

This volume addresses practical concerns of how to create space for legal anthropology in both law and anthropology programmes, and also more conceptual issues such as the ethnographic examination of the ‘culture’ of legal institutions and systems of state laws. It is based on testimonies from anthropologists teaching in anthropology departments, and legal scholars incorporating anthropology into their law curricula, and teaching fundamental aspects of legal thinking to anthropology students. Starting from an acknowledgement that anthropologists and lawyers still often regard one another with a degree of suspicion, the authors try to bridge the apparent epistemological and ontological gulf separating the disciplines. They do so by emphasizing both the need for law students to go beyond the standard approach to law based on state-centred positivism and open their eyes to the normative diversity that exists in all plural societies. At the same time, they stress the need for anthropologists to have a solid foundation in law, legal practice, and legal procedure to more effectively deal with a number of explicitly legal issues that are emerging as important concerns to anthropologists. The collection also addresses the issue of preparing anthropologists to apply their expertise in legal settings as expert witnesses and consultants.