ANTH 037B. Anthropology of Law

This course introduces students to the anthropological study of law through the investigation of the relation of law to violence, capital, and justice. Rather than assuming that law is a well-defined set of formal rules that constitutes the opposite of violence, an equivalent of justice, or a sphere autonomous from capitalism, this course seeks to provide students with critical and analytical skills to interrogate the relation of law to each of these terms. Students enrolled in this class will be introduced to some of the major themes and debates in legal anthropology as well as to texts and topics that exemplify how the discipline’s approach to legal systems has changed over time. Through a combination of readings in anthropology, law, and legal studies as well as documentary and film, this course will offer students the opportunity to investigate law (both comparatively and in the U.S.) as a complex social practice, social technology, and mode of knowledge that constitutes the worlds we inhabit in both expected and unexpected ways. This class is ideal for students broadly interested in questions of law and justice, as well as students interested in anthropological theory and ethnographic methods.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Sociology and Anthropology
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/sociology-anthropology

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