 Overview:This seminar for anthropology graduate students and law school students will provide an introduction to the field of legal anthropology. We will address anthropological theories of the nature of law and disputes, examine related studies of legal structures in non-Western cultures, and consider the uses of anthropology in studying facets of our own legal system. By examining individual legal institutions in the context of their particular cultural settings, we can begin to make cross-cultural comparisons and contrasts. In so doing, we confront the challenge of interpreting and understanding the legal rules and institutions of other cultures while assessing the impact of our own social norms and biases on the analysis. Thus, our analytic and interpretative approach will require us to examine the cultural assumptions that underpin various aspects of our own belief systems and the American legal system. We will also consider cultural resource management laws and related ethical debates in anthropology and museum practices.Instructor: Chris Fennell (MA, U. Pennsylvania, 1986; JD, Georgetown U., 1989; Ph.D., U. Virginia, 2003) is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Law. In the Spring 2007 semester, the class meets in Classroom F of the Law School, 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave., on Tuesdays, from 3:00pm to 5:50pm. Other primary course documents that you will find useful in this seminar are available on the internet, including:
Sources on Social Norms and Law Sources on Analysis of Social Group Identities List of Potential Paper Topics Required Texts:The following required texts are available at the University bookstore, or can be purchased through internet booksellers. A copy of each book will also be available on reserve hold at the school library.Minding the Law, by Anthony G. Amsterdam and Jerome Bruner. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press. 2000. Just Words: Law, Language and Power, by John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1998. Between Law and Culture: Relocating Legal Studies, edited by David T. Goldberg, Michael Musheno, and Lisa C. Bower. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2001. Inside and Outside the Law: Anthropological Studies of Authority and Ambiguity, edited by Olivia Harris. London: Routledge. 1996. Additional readings, which will also be provided through reserve holdings or online excerpts, include: Cultural Resources Laws and Practices, by Thomas King. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 1998. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes, by Charles Birnbaum and Christine C. Peters. Washington DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1996. Audience, Ownership, and Authority: Designing Relations between Museums and Communities, by Steven D. Lavine, in Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, ed. by Ivan Karp, Christine Mullen Kreamer, and Steven D. Lavine, pp. 137-57. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1992. Course Requirements:No prerequisite courses are required, and this course is designed to enable anthropology graduate students to analyze legal structures and to enable law students to understand and apply anthropological theories and concepts in similar studies. Requirements for this seminar course include preparation of a research paper, a brief in-class presentation of your developing research ideas, and thoughtful class participation.The Seminar Paper Your grade will be based primarily (75%) on an original analytic research paper that you complete on a topic of your choosing related to anthropology and law. Your paper should apply pertinent anthropological concepts and analyses to critically examine the social and legal issues addressed in your chosen topic. Generally, the paper should be at least 25 pages long, including footnotes, and double-spaced in a normal font (such as Times New Roman 12 point), with normal margins. If you are a law student seeking to satisfy an upper-level writing requirement, the law school requires that the paper should be of sufficient length and address issues of sufficient difficulty to allow you to demonstrate your ability to research a complex issue or issues and present your findings and conclusions in a clear, coherent, and logical manner. No specific minimum length is set by the law school for this writing requirement, but only rarely should a paper of less than 6,000 words, excluding footnotes, be treated as satisfying the requirement. Here is the schedule for completing the paper:
A final paper submitted late will be docked by one grading increment for each day of lateness. Late submission on any of the other items will negatively affect your class participation grade. Extensions are of course possible in the case of bona fide emergencies or other compelling circumstances, but these must be addressed before the expiration of the deadline unless circumstances make this impossible. * On the day you make your presentation (discussed below) the class will be assigned a short background reading of your choosing. This reading should be approximately 10 to 15 pages from an article, book excerpt, court opinion, or other pertinent document and should relate to your work-in-progress. I need to get your reading selections by the third week of class to allow time for obtaining any necessary permissions and distribution copies. Presentation During one of the last four class sessions, you will discuss your work-in-progress with the class. This will be a fifteen minute presentation with a short question and answer period to follow. As noted above, you will have selected a short background reading for the class to read that relates in some way to your work. If there is overlap in subject areas among works-in-progress, I will attempt to schedule the presentations accordingly. The presentation constitutes 10% of your grade. Participation Class participation constitutes 15% of your grade. Barring illness or emergency, you are expected to attend every class session, to have done the reading, and to be ready and willing to discuss. In addition, you will be responsible for reading and responding thoughtfully to the draft of one or two other seminar participants. Each of you will deliver to me by email a copy of your then current draft paper one week before your presentation. I will then assign your paper to one or two other participants for review and feedback. Each reviewer should prepare written comments with feedback on the other participant’s paper and deliver those written comments to the author and me. Class Meeting Schedule and Required Readings:
Maintained by Chris Fennell |
