The
courses
being offered in conjunction with the 2015-16 Cultures of Law program are:Fall 2015
Political and Legal Anthropology (ANTH 499) Anthropology of Modern China (ANTH 515/EALC 550) Women and the Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa (HIST 502 A) Law and Society in Chinese History (EALC 550)View previous course offerings.
Political and Legal Anthropology
ANTH 499Jeffrey T. MartinTu-Th 11-12:30
This class is an introduction to political anthropology. We will read cutting-edge work in dialogue with older texts stretching back through the history of anthropology to the classical foundations of political thought. Our focus is law. Law holds a privileged place in the modern political imagination. Legal institutions appear necessary (yet insufficient) to the pursuit of modern political values like, e.g.: peace, justice, prosperity, etc. By exploring the ways anthropologists have attempted to explain the complex political significance of law in different times and places, you will gain a foundation for understanding the political concerns driving anthropological research.
Anthropology of Modern China
ANTH 515/EALC 550Jeffrey T. MartinMon 2-4:20
What does modernity mean for China? What does China mean for modernity? This graduate seminar engages these questions through research by anthropologists and historians into such topics as the emergence of Chinese nationalism, the transformation from Maoism to “Market Socialism,” the quality of individual and family life under the one-child policy, and more.
Women and the Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa
HIST 502 AKenneth Cuno
The history of “the family” has emerged as an important field of investigation in studies of colonial and post-colonial South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa (SAMENA). The premises of this course are, first, that contemporary debates in the three regions on human rights, family law, gender, and sexuality can be understood better in light of the re-imagining of “family” in modern times and the efforts of states, through legislation, to realize a modern family ideal. The second premise is that we can multiply our insights into this history through a comparative approach to SAMENA that will enable us to identify transnational patterns of change that may also be applicable to other regions. Modern social constructions of the family in SAMENA have been entangled with constructions (or reconstructions) of the nation and gender. Legal systems were reformed to bring them into conformity with European norms, literally resulting in the creation of “family law,” which has become an arena in which conflicts over the roles of woman and the family are fought. We will begin with big-picture comparative and foundational works, and work our way through a series of topics. Chronologically, we will range from the pre-modern era to recent developments in family laws in selected SAMENA countries. Area content will be at least 25% African, 25% Middle Eastern, and 25% South Asian.
Law and Society in Chinese History
EALC 550SHAO Dan
This cross-disciplinary seminar introduces students to the historical roots of contemporary problems concerning law and society in China.
This course focuses on historical, legal, anthropological, and fictional readings on “law” (C: fa, ling, lü, li, gui, ze) in modern and contemporary Chinese society from the late Qing to the present. Major themes to be covered include: 1) the changes in the conception of law in different historical periods; 2) social consequences of legal codes; 3) import of western legal concepts and codes; 4) methodology of using legal materials to study humanities-centered questions. Course materials include varied genres of publications: academic writings, journalistic reports, governmental documents, archival excerpts, as well as visual materials.
It will facilitate a cross-disciplinary dialogue among students from different academic disciplines, national origins, and ethnic groups. It aims at training students to develop skills at transnational research, comparative studies of primary sources, critical review of theories, creative application of cross-disciplinary research methods, multi-lingual reading, as well as ability to identify problems and pose interesting questions and to conduct multidisciplinary research in a crucial field that is growing fast.