Justice and Culture: An Introduction to Political and Legal Anthropology

Catalog description

What is justice, and for whom? This course draws on political and legal anthropology to address this question across different cultural, national, and international contexts. Political and legal anthropology is a core component of contemporary anthropology that provides tools and frameworks for challenging taken for granted assumptions about the concepts, processes, and institutions that govern our world. In this course, students will learn how to understand law and politics as cultural forms in social context. In addition to our main focus on the question of justice, we will consider questions and contestations related to rights, power, and governance. Throughout, the course emphasizes politics and law as dynamic and varied lived experiences.