ANT 221 - Law, Culture, and Society

Course Units: 1.0

(Not Offered this Academic Year) Law is everywhere but it is not everywhere the same. How do diverse social, cultural and historical contexts shape the workings of law? This course introduces students to a series of critical perspectives about what law is and how it contours the fabric of everyday life. Students will learn how key legal issues such as dispute management, decision-making, and reconciliation are actualized in different settings. The ultimate goal of the class is to equip students with the tools to critically evaluate legal processes in multicultural and plural societies. The course begins with a consideration of customary practices and conflict resolution in non-Western societies and then looks at how anthropology helps us to understand law in contemporary societies. CC: LCC, SOCS, JCHF, JSPE