Legal Anthropology
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
This course aims to provide students with the conceptual and methodological tools of anthropology of law, in order to develop the skills to critically analyze from a non-dogmatic perspective the complex relationship between law and culture.
Expected learning outcomes
- the knowledge of the fundamental concepts and the research methods of legal anthropology;
- the ability to apply the skills acquired during this course to the analysis of legal phenomena;
- the acquisition of a high capacity for understanding and critical analysis of the covered topics
- the ability to use the acquired knowledge with argumentative consistency and an adequate command of the legal-anthropological technical terminology;
- the ability to undertake, in an autonomous way, in-depth studies concerning the relations between law and cultural diversity by making use of a method that should combine theoretical reflection and critical observation.
- the ability to apply the skills acquired during this course to the analysis of legal phenomena;
- the acquisition of a high capacity for understanding and critical analysis of the covered topics
- the ability to use the acquired knowledge with argumentative consistency and an adequate command of the legal-anthropological technical terminology;
- the ability to undertake, in an autonomous way, in-depth studies concerning the relations between law and cultural diversity by making use of a method that should combine theoretical reflection and critical observation.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
Legal anthropology was born as a discipline aimed at studying norms, practices and customs in communities characterized by an oral culture and a simple social organization. The comparative vocation and the debate around the concept of culture within the anthropological sciences and the overcoming of the evolutionary perspective in the social and legal sciences are some of the reasons that have favoured the development of anthropological research-legal in any company.
The course aims to introduce students to the specifics of the anthropological study of law. It deepens the theories of the founders of modern legal anthropology, analyzing fundamental themes and concepts and some fields of application of the research. Particular attention will be paid to the anthropology of human rights and to legal and normative pluralism in different contexts, both European and non-European.
SYLLABUS
- Culture and law
- The foundation of modern legal anthropology
- Anthropology, colonization and postcolonial critics
- Legal pluralism: concept, theories and fields of research
- Anthropology and human rights: from the 1947 Statement of Human Rights to the 1999 Declaration on Anthropology and Human Rights
- Rights, cultures and legal pluralism: theories and fields of research
The course aims to introduce students to the specifics of the anthropological study of law. It deepens the theories of the founders of modern legal anthropology, analyzing fundamental themes and concepts and some fields of application of the research. Particular attention will be paid to the anthropology of human rights and to legal and normative pluralism in different contexts, both European and non-European.
SYLLABUS
- Culture and law
- The foundation of modern legal anthropology
- Anthropology, colonization and postcolonial critics
- Legal pluralism: concept, theories and fields of research
- Anthropology and human rights: from the 1947 Statement of Human Rights to the 1999 Declaration on Anthropology and Human Rights
- Rights, cultures and legal pluralism: theories and fields of research
Prerequisites for admission
No prior knowledge is required.
Teaching methods
Lectures, discussion from indicated readings, seminars.
Teaching Resources
Attending students:
- L. Mancini, Antropologia giuridica. Temi e ricerche, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino (forthcoming)
- Material provided during the course
Non-attending students:
The material indicated for preparing the exam includes an introductory volume on legal anthropology and some writings that deepen specific themes: the concept of legal acculturation and its effects in the African context; the relationship between rights and cultures, with particular reference to women's rights; and a study on the magical-religious dimension in the subjugation and sexual exploitation of Nigerian migrant women.
- L. Mancini, Antropologia giuridica. Temi e ricerche, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino (forthcoming)
The following essays (available on the Ariel platform):
- N. Rouland, L'acculturazione giuridica, in N. Rouland, Antropologia giuridica, Giuffrè, Milano 1992
- S. Engle Merry, Le norme per la protezione dei diritti umani e la demonizzazione della cultura (passando per l'antropologia), in Diritti e culture. Un'antologia critica, a cura di R. Cammarata, L. Mancini, P. Tincani, Giappichelli, Torino 2014
- A. Brivio, "Assoggettamento da juju? Decostruire le categorie della dipendenza tra le giovani migranti dalla Nigeria", in ANUAC. Rivista della società italiana di antropologia culturale, 1, 2021
Erasmus Students: If required specific material may be provided.
- L. Mancini, Antropologia giuridica. Temi e ricerche, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino (forthcoming)
- Material provided during the course
Non-attending students:
The material indicated for preparing the exam includes an introductory volume on legal anthropology and some writings that deepen specific themes: the concept of legal acculturation and its effects in the African context; the relationship between rights and cultures, with particular reference to women's rights; and a study on the magical-religious dimension in the subjugation and sexual exploitation of Nigerian migrant women.
- L. Mancini, Antropologia giuridica. Temi e ricerche, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino (forthcoming)
The following essays (available on the Ariel platform):
- N. Rouland, L'acculturazione giuridica, in N. Rouland, Antropologia giuridica, Giuffrè, Milano 1992
- S. Engle Merry, Le norme per la protezione dei diritti umani e la demonizzazione della cultura (passando per l'antropologia), in Diritti e culture. Un'antologia critica, a cura di R. Cammarata, L. Mancini, P. Tincani, Giappichelli, Torino 2014
- A. Brivio, "Assoggettamento da juju? Decostruire le categorie della dipendenza tra le giovani migranti dalla Nigeria", in ANUAC. Rivista della società italiana di antropologia culturale, 1, 2021
Erasmus Students: If required specific material may be provided.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Non-attending students: Student performance will be assessed through a final oral exam (maximum score: 30\30 cum laude). The evaluation criteria will consider knowledge of the fundamental issues of legal anthropology, critical analysis skills, and clarity of exposition.
Attending students: The evaluation will consider both active participation during the course and the final oral exam covering the content of the lessons (maximum score: 30\30 cum laude). The final assessment will consider both the active participation and the final oral exam.
Attending students: The evaluation will consider both active participation during the course and the final oral exam covering the content of the lessons (maximum score: 30\30 cum laude). The final assessment will consider both the active participation and the final oral exam.
IUS/20 - PHILOSOPHY OF LAW - University credits: 6
Lessons: 42 hours
Professor:
Mancini Letizia
Shifts:
Turno
Professor:
Mancini LetiziaProfessor(s)
Reception:
Meetings with students take place in person on Tuesday at 10 and in other times and days always by appointment via email
Dipartimento 'Cesare Beccaria', MTeams