Abstract: Dynamics of Caste and Law breaks new ground in understanding how caste and law relate in India's democratic order. Caste has become a visible phenomenon often associated with discrimination, inequality and politics in India and globally. India's constitutional democracy has had a remarkable goal of creating equality in a context of caste. Despite constitutional promises with equal opportunities for the lower castes and outlawing of untouchability at the time of independence, recurring atrocities and inadequate implementation of law have called for rethinking and legal change. This book sheds new light on why caste oppression persists by using new theoretical perspectives as well as Bhimrao Ambedkar's concepts of the caste system. Focusing on struggles among India's Dalits, the castes formerly known as untouchables, the book draws on a rich material and explains, among other things, mechanisms of oppression and how powerful actors may gain influence in institutions of law and state.

Abstract: Citizenship in Africa provides a comprehensive exploration of nationality laws in Africa, placing them in their theoretical and historical context. It offers the first serious attempt to analyse the impact of nationality law on politics and society in different African states from a trans-continental comparative perspective. Taking a four-part approach, Parts I and II set the book within the framework of existing scholarship on citizenship, from both sociological and legal perspectives, and examine the history of nationality laws in Africa from the colonial period to the present day. Part III considers case studies which illustrate the application and misapplication of the law in practice, and the relationship of legal and political developments in each country. Finally, Part IV explores the impact of the law on politics, and its relevance for questions of identity and `belonging' today, concluding with a set of issues for further research. Ambitious in scope and compelling in analysis, this is an important new work on citizenship in Africa.

Abstract: The establishment of legal institutions was a key part of the process of state construction in Africa, and these institutions have played a crucial role in the projection of state authority across space. This is especially the case in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe. George Karekwaivanane offers a unique long-term study of law and politics in Zimbabwe, which examines how the law was used in the constitution and contestation of state power across the late-colonial and postcolonial periods. Through this, he offers insight on recent debates about judicial independence, adherence to human rights, and the observation of the rule of law in contemporary Zimbabwean politics. The book sheds light on the prominent place that law has assumed in Zimbabwe's recent political struggles for those researching the history of the state and power in Southern Africa. It also carries forward important debates on the role of law in state-making, and will also appeal to those interested in African legal history.

Abstract: The book highlights the debates and controversies that have been the subject of the media and other conversation spaces in Ugangda in the recent past. Written from a human rights point of view, it exposes the discrimination and abuses suffered by gay persons, comprenhensively providing a thoughtful exploration of homosexuality in Uganda, and exploring legislation against homosexuality in Uganda and the impact of the lives and human rigths of gay persosn.

Abstract: Using the phenomenon of public interest litigation (PIL) as the primary focus of analysis, this book explores the manner in which the judicial branch of government in the three East African states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has engaged with questions traditionally off-limits to adjudication and court-based resolution. It is rooted in an incisive investigation of the history of politics and governance in the sub-region, accompanied by an extensive repertoire of judicial decisions. It also provides a critical and informative account of the manner in which courts of law have engaged with State.

Abstract: Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity is forbidden in contemporary international human rights law, yet in many interpretations of Islamic law, this is seen to contradict the tenets of Islam. Vanja Hamzic here offers a path-breaking historical and anthropological analysis of the discourses on sexual and gender diversity in the Muslim world. The first of its kind, the book sheds new light on the understanding of diversity and resistance to hegemonic visions of the self in Muslim societies. Combining first-hand ethnographic accounts of Muslims in contemporary Pakistan including the hijra community whose pluralist sexual and gender experience defy the disciplinary gaze of both international and state law with new archival research, this book provides a unique mapping of Islamic jurisprudence, court practice and social developments in the Muslim world. Hamzic provides a comprehensive look at the ways in which sexually diverse and gender-variant Muslims are seen, and see themselves, within the context of the Islamic legal tradition.

Abstract: In this book, renowned anthropologists Jean and John L. Comaroff make a startling but absolutely convincing claim about our modern era: it is not by our arts, our politics, or our science that we understand ourselves it is by our crimes. Surveying an astonishing range of forms of crime and policing from petty thefts to the multibillion-dollar scams of too-big-to-fail financial institutions to the collateral damage of war they take readers into the disorder of the late modern world. Looking at recent transformations in the triangulation of capital, the state, and governance that have led to an era where crime and policing are ever more complicit, they offer a powerful meditation on the new forms of sovereignty, citizenship, class, race, law, and political economy of representation that have arisen. To do so, the Comaroffs draw on their vast knowledge of South Africa, especially, and its struggle to build a democracy founded on the rule of law out of the wreckage of long years of violence and oppression. There they explore everything from the fascination with the supernatural in policing to the extreme measures people take to prevent home invasion, drawing illuminating comparisons to the United States and United Kingdom. Going beyond South Africa, they offer a global criminal anthropology that attests to criminality as the constitutive fact of contemporary life, the vernacular by which politics are conducted, moral panics voiced, and populations ruled. The result is a disturbing but necessary portrait of the modern era, one that asks critical new questions about how we see ourselves, how we think about morality, and how we are going to proceed as a global society.

Abstract: Society, Law, and Culture in the Middle East:"Modernities" in the Making is an edited volume that seeks to deepen and broaden our understanding of various forms of change in Middle Eastern and North African societies during the Ottoman period. It offers an in-depth analysis of reforms and gradual change in the longue durée, challenging the current discourse on the relationship between society, culture, and law. The focus of the discussion shifts from an external to an internal perspective, as agency transitions from "the West" to local actors in the region. Highlighting the ongoing interaction between internal processes and external stimuli, and using primary sources in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, the authors and editors bring out the variety of modernities that shaped south-eastern Mediterranean history. The first part of the volume interrogates the urban elite household, the main social, political, and economic unit of networking in Ottoman societies. The second part addresses the complex relationship between law and culture, looking at how the legal system, conceptually and practically, undergirded the socio-cultural aspects of life in the Middle East.

Abstract: A useful introduction to the social, political, cultural and religious position of Muslims living in contemporary Europe. It describes the history of early European Muslims and outlines the causes and courses of 20th-century Muslim immigration. Explaining how Muslim communities have developed in individual countries, the book examines their origins, their present day ethnic composition, distribution and organisational patterns, and the political, legal and cultural contexts in which they exist. It also provides a comparative consideration of issues common to Muslims in all Western European countries, namely the role of the family, and the questions of worship, education and religious thought. In the fourth edition all country-related chapters have been substantially updated. A new chapter has also been added on Southern Europe, where the maturity of a new generation has seen moves towards political integration. This new chapter will reflect the extensive research of the past decade in this area

Abstract: When Eritrea gained independence in 1991, hopes were high for its transformation. In two decades, however, it became one of the most repressive in the world, effectively a militarised "garrison state". This comprehensive and detailed analysis examines how the prospects for democracy in the new state turned to ashes, reviewing its development, and in particular the loss of human rights and the state's political organisation. Beginning with judicial development in independent Eritrea, subsequent chapters scrutinise the rule of law and the court system; the hobbled process of democratisation, and the curtailment of civil society; the Eritrean prison system and everyday life of detention and disappearances; and the situation of minorities in the country, first in general terms and then through exploration of a case study of the Kunama ethnic group. While the situation is bleak, it is not without hope, however: the conclusion focuses on opposition to the current regime, and offers scenarios of regime change and how the coming of a second republic may yet reconfigure Eritrea politically. Kjetil Tronvoll is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Bjoerknes College, founding and senior partner of the International Law and Policy Institute, Oslo, and a former Professor of Human Rights at the University of Oslo; Daniel R. Mekonnen is Senior Legal Advisor, International Law and Policy Institute, Oslo, and former Judge of the Zoba Maekel Provincial Court in Eritrea.

Abstract: This important new book provides a framework for complementarity between promoting and protecting human rights and combating corruption. The book makes three major points regarding the relationship between corruption and human rights law. First, corruption per se is a human rights violation, insofar as it interferes with the right of the people to dispose of their natural wealth and resources and thereby increases poverty and frustrates socio-economic development. Second, corruption leads to a multitude of human rights violations. Third, the book demonstrates that human rights mechanisms have the capacity to provide more effective remedies to victims of corruption than can other criminal and civil legal mechanisms. The book takes up one of the pervasive problems of governance--large-scale corruption--to examine its impact on human rights and the degree to which a human rights approach to confronting corruption can buttress the traditional criminal law response. It examines three major aspects of human rights in practice--the importance of governing structures in the implementation and enjoyment of human rights, the relationship between corruption, poverty and underdevelopment, and the threat that systemic poverty poses to the entire human rights edifice. The book is a very significant contribution to the literature on good governance, human rights and the rule of law in Africa. Endorsements "Kolawole Olaniyan has taken up one of the pervasive problems of governance - large-scale corruption - to examine its impact on human rights and the degree to which a human rights approach to confronting corruption can buttress the traditional criminal law response. His focus is Africa, but the valuable lessons he teaches in this comprehensive study can resonate throughout the world. The result is a comprehensive and holistic legal framework for addressing some of the root causes of human rights violations and poverty, not only in Africa, but wherever corruption exists." Dinah Shelton Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law (emeritus) The George Washington University Law School "This book demonstrates the author's mastery of complex jurisprudential and theoretical discourses. His review of the existing literature is extensive, the doctrinal analysis rigorous and the treatment of the subject innovative. Dr. Olaniyan's willingness to introduce fresh eyes to the ways in which doctrine contributes to an understanding of seemingly mundane problems lays the foundation for fertile trajectories from which future scholars can launch exciting inquiries on the relationship between corruption and human rights. Overall, this book makes an important and valuable contribution to the growth and understanding of the corruption/human rights discourse as it is presently constructed." Ndiva Kofele-Kale, University Distinguished Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law, Dallas, USA.Review: Kolawole Olaniyan has taken up one of the pervasive problems of governance, large-scale corruption, to examine its impact on human rights and the degree to which a human rights approach to confronting corruption can buttress the traditional criminal law response. His focus is Africa, but the valuable lessons he teaches in this comprehensive study can resonate throughout the world. The result is a comprehensive and holistic legal framework for addressing some of the root causes of human rights violations and poverty, not only in Africa, but wherever corruption exists. -- Dinah Shelton Manatt/Ahn Professor of Law (emeritus) The George Washington University Law School Kolawole Olaniyan, as a well known and respected human rights activist in the African human rights system, is well placed to write on this topic. The issue is contemporary and politically relevant and a book which focuses on the legal framework in the African continent is a very welcome addition to the literature and debate in this area. -- Professor Rachel Murray Director, Human Rights Implementation Centre University of Bristol This book demonstrates the author's mastery of complex jurisprudential and theoretical discourses. His review of the existing literature is extensive, the doctrinal analysis rigorous and the treatment of the subject innovative. Dr. Olaniyan's willingness to introduce fresh eyes to the ways in which doctrine contributes to an understanding of seemingly mundane problems lays the foundation for fertile trajectories from which future scholars can launch exciting inquiries on the relationship between corruption and human rights. Overall, this book makes an important and valuable contribution to the growth and understanding of the corruption/human rights discourse as it is presently constructed. -- Ndiva Kofele-Kale, University Distinguished Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law, Dallas, USA Kolawole Olaniyan, a leading African rights scholar-activist, has written a deeply penetrating and pioneering book on the causes and horrendous effects of corruption in Africa. The work couldn't come at a more timely period as Africa is poised to surge due to the enormous natural resources being discovered there. But dramatic prosperity, which is expected to lift the continent from underdevelopment, simply won't happen unless leaders heed Olaniyan's bold call to curb corruption, respect basic human rights, and create democratic government. -- Makau Mutua Dean & SUNY Distinguished Professor Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar Dr. Kolawole Olaniyan has brought fresh thinking into an area often neglected or not emphasized particularly in developing countries. The book makes a meaningful contribution to the field and the literature on the intersection between corruption and the lack of realization of human rights, particularly socio-economic rights. I commend Dr. Olaniyan for his fine work. Academics, researchers, policy makers and activists will find the book very useful in their various work areas. -- Professor Vincent O. Nmehielle, Legal Counsel of the African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr Kolawole Olaniyan, one of the leading African human rights activists and renowned scholars, in his well written and researched book on the effects of corruption on the peoples of Africa, has gone an extra mile in bringing this social cancer to the attention of African leaders and people. Mr Olaniyan has most effectively and brilliantly demonstrated the interface between corruption and the protections that are provided by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, a Treaty that protects and promotes human and peoples' rights in Africa. The book is a scholarly masterpiece, an instructive and timely resource which is a must read for everyone. -- H.E. Judge Sanji Monageng, 1st Vice-President Presidency International Criminal Court and former chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Corruption is a scourge of the world today, damaging human rights and deepening poverty and inequality. Kolawole Olaniyan has powerfully portrayed corruption as a violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. In this timely work, Olaniyan shows how the Charter can serve as a solid legal framework to complement the traditional but often less effective criminal law instrument against corruption. The book focuses on Africa but its legal analysis will resonate wherever corruption exists. This book is an important contribution to the corruption and human rights debate-- and hopefully should help create change. -- Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General

Abstract: Analysing both fraud and religion as social constructs with different functions and meanings attributed to them, this book raises issues that are central to debates about the limits of religious toleration in diverse societies, and the possible harm (as well as benefits) that religious organisations can visit upon society and individuals. There has already been a lively debate concerning the structural context in which abuse, especially sexual abuse, can be perpetrated within religion. Contributors to the volume proceed from the premise that similar arguments about ways in which structure and power may be conducive to abuse can be made about fraud and deception. Both can contribute to abuse, yet they are often less easily demonstrated and proven, hence less easily prosecuted. With a focus on minority religions, the book offers a comparative overview of the concept of religious fraud by bringing together analyses of different types of fraud or deception (financial, bio-medical, emotional, breach of trust and consent). Contributors examine whether: fraud is necessarily intentional (or whether that is in the eye of the beholder); certain structures may be more conducive to fraud; followers willingly participate in it. The volume includes some essays focused on non-Western beliefs (Juju, Occult Economies, Dharma Lineage), which have travelled to the West and can be found in North American and European metropolitan areas.

Abstract: Focusing on colonial Kenya, this book shows how conflicts between state authorities and Africans over witchcraft-related crimes provided an important space in which the meanings of justice, law and order in the empire were debated. Katherine Luongo discusses the emergence of imperial networks of knowledge about witchcraft. She then demonstrates how colonial concerns about witchcraft produced an elaborate body of jurisprudence about capital crimes. The book analyzes the legal wrangling that produced the Witchcraft Ordinances in the 1910s, the birth of an anthro-administrative complex surrounding witchcraft in the 1920s, the hotly contested Wakamba Witch Trials of the 1930s, the explosive growth of legal opinion on witch-murder in the 1940s, and the unprecedented state-sponsored cleansings of witches and Mau Mau adherents during the 1950s. A work of anthropological history, this book develops an ethnography of Kamba witchcraft or uoi.Review: 'This is one of the finest historical ethnographies of witchcraft and statecraft that I have read. Luongo simultaneously gives account of Kamba witchcraft and of the British colonial juridical system through which it was policed - two cosmologies that not only came into conflict but that also profoundly shaped one another over time. The rich detail of the work - a reading of the archives at once anthropological and historical - makes for captivating reading and, in light of the continuing, sometimes explosive, juxtaposition of witchcraft and formal legal systems in postcolonial East Africa and beyond, a work of significant contemporary relevance.' Harry G. West, SOAS, University of London 'Where witchcraft is very often taken to be a peculiar aspect of Africans' mentality, Luongo's fine book shows how the occult was translated, disciplined, and organized by British and Kenyan brokers. The regulation of witchcraft was one of the tensions of empire, an occupation in which Kenyan practitioners played a role alongside British authorities. Luongo's book allows us to see how witches haunted colonial power, giving us new insights into the uncertainties of governance.' Derek Peterson, University of Michigan, and author of Creative Writing: Translation, Bookkeeping, and the Work of Imagination in Kenya 'Luongo's vivid style of anthropological history brings out the full complexity of colonial officials' positioning toward the witchcraft conundrum. But the interest of this groundbreaking study is much broader. Luongo's imaginative analysis of rich legal data and people's memories shows witchcraft to be an ongoing, basic challenge to state formation as such, up to the present day.' Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam, and author of The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics of the Occult in Postcolonial Africa 'Through its analysis of judicial matters concerning witchcraft, this book makes an important contribution to understandings of the construction of both the colonial and postcolonial state. It illustrates the reliance of an anthropological history on legal research.' Herve Maupeu, Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour '[Witchcraft and Colonial Rule in Kenya, 1900-1955] forces readers to re-imagine the construct of law and perceptions of order in relation to empire and will undoubtedly become essential reading for Africanist scholars of various specialities.' Reviews in History (history.ac.uk/reviews)

Abstract: The Oneida Indians, already weakened by their participation in the Civil War, faced the possibility of losing their reservation - their community`s greatest crisis since its resettlement in Wisconsin after the War of 1812. The Oneida Indians in the Age of Allotment, 1860- 1920 is the first comprehensive study of how the Oneida Indians of Wisconsin were affected by the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887, the Burke Act of 1906, and the Federal Competency Commission, created in 1917. Editors Laurence M. Hauptman and L. Gordon McLester III draw on the expertise of historians, anthropologists, and archivists, as well as tribal attorneys, educators, and elders to clarify the little-understood transformation of the Oneida reservation during this era.Sixteen WPA narratives included in this volume tell of Oneida struggles during the Civil War and in boarding schools; of reservation leaders; and of land loss and other hardships under allotment. This book represents a unique collaborative effort between one Native American community and academics to present a detailed picture of the Oneida Indian past.

Abstract: In what ways and to what extent should cultural background be taken into consideration in response to legal problems? This study of the topic provides a comprehensive overview of the debate surrounding the admissibility of cultural evidence in the courtroom. Documenting an extraordinary range of cases in which individuals have attempted to invoke a cultural defense, this book provides an in-depth look at the complexities of invoking cultural arguments in the diverse bodies of law under which the cases fall. Cases considered include homicide and rape prosecutions, child abuse cases, drug use cases, the treatment of animals, and custody battles. Disputing contemporary practices, the author contends that the cultural defense should, in both criminal and civil matters, be given formal recognition.

Abstract: Hawai`i and Fiji share strikingly similar histories of colonialism and plantation sugar production but display different legacies of ethnic conflict today. Pacific Island chiefdoms colonized by the United States and England respectively, the islands` indigenous populations were forced to share resources with a small colonizing elite and growing numbers of workers imported from South Asia. Both societies had long traditions of chiefly power exercised through reciprocity and descent; both were integrated into the plantation complex in the nineteenth century. Colonial authorities, however, constructed vastly different legal relationships with the indigenous peoples in each setting, and policy toward imported workers also differed in arrangements around land tenure and political participation. The legacies of these colonial arrangements are at the roots of the current crisis in both places.Focusing on the intimate relationship between law, culture, and the production of social knowledge, these essays re-center law in social theory. The authors analyze the transition from chiefdom to capitalism, colonizers` racial and governmental ideologies, land and labor policies, and contemporary efforts to recuperate indigenous culture and assert or maintain indigenous sovereignty. Speaking to Fijian and Hawaiian circumstances, this volume illuminates the role of legal and archival practice in constructing ethnic and political identities and producing colonial and anthropological knowledge. (Umschlagtext)