Anthropology of Law

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the anthropology of law, using Oliver Wendell Holmes’s statement that law can be regarded “simply as a great anthropological document” as a starting provocation. We will move beyond this simple equation to explore how anthropology not only studies, but also produces, sustains, and legitimizes law. The class considers law as a social practice, examining it through various modes, such as law as language, discourse, social technology, and mode of knowledge. Rather than a broad survey, the course aims to develop an anthropological approach to the law, emphasizing critical and analytical tools to interrogate law's authority and its complex relationship with four key concepts: liberalism, capitalism, violence, and justice. The goal is to move beyond assumptions that law is autonomous from capitalism or the opposite of violence/equivalent to justice. Through readings in anthropology, law, legal studies, and film/documentary, we will investigate how law constitutes the worlds we inhabit. Students will be introduced to major themes and debates in the field and will practice reading and engaging with legal texts and practices anthropologically. This class is ideal for students interested in law, justice, anthropological theory, and ethnographic methods.