AN279 Half Unit
Anthropology of Law and Human Rights
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Andrea Pia
Availability
This course is compulsory on the BA in Anthropology and Law. This course is available on the BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in Social Anthropology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study, Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley, Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Cape Town), Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Fudan) and Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Tokyo). This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course is freely available to General Course students. It does not require permission.
Requisites
Mutually exclusive courses:
This course cannot be taken with AN226 or AN253 or AN379 at any time on the same degree programme.
Course content
The aim of this course is to introduce students to major developments and debates in the anthropology of law and human rights across time and space. The first part of the course reflects on the origins and early developments of legal anthropology, including the legacies of colonialism and its impact on the development of customary law; the concept of legal pluralism; and the relationship between law, violence, and the state. The second part of the course explores selected themes and debates in the anthropology of law, including anthropological engagements with human rights; the concept of property; and l indigenous sovereignties. The final part of the course surveys emerging discussions around , environmental and interspecies justice, punitivism, and the rights of nature.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
1 hours of lectures in the Spring Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
The contact hours listed above are the minimum expected.
Formative assessment
Essay (1500 words)
Students will have the opportunity to submit one formative essay of up to 1500 words during the course.
Students will be informed of their formative submission deadline by email by the end of Week 3 of term.
Indicative reading
Malinowski, B. 1924. Crime and Custom in Savage Society. New Jersey: Rowman & Allanheld.
Roberts, S. and Comaroff, J. 1981. Rules and Processes: The Cultural Logic of Dispute in an African Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Foblets, M. Goodale, M. Sapignoli, M. and Zenker, O. (eds.) 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. 2007. Law and Disorder in the Postcolony. Social Anthropology 15(2): 133-152.
Englund, Harry. 2006. Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Strathern, M. 2006. Losing (Out On) Intellectual Resources. In Pottage, A. and Mundy, M. Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social: Making Persons and Things, pp. 201-233. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Riles, A. 1998. Infinity within the brackets. American Ethnologist 25(3): 378-398.
Kirsch, S. 2012. Juridification of Indigenous Politics. In J. Eckert, B. Donahoe, C. Strümpell, and Z. Ö. Biner, eds. Law against the State: Ethnographic Forays into Law’s Transformations, pp. 23–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: Anthropology
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 5
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Capped 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Specialist skills