University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Available only to Honours Social Anthropolgy students unless with permission of the module convenor.

Planned timetable: Lecture - Mon, Wed - time tbc Practical - Friday 2pm

This module offers an anthropological perspective on justice and justice-seeking both 'inside' and 'outside' of national and international legal instruments. It explores the history of the relationship between anthropology and law as disciplines, and demonstrates how many emergent socio-legal dilemmas can be investigated using the tookit of anthropology. It should be noted that this not a module instructing students in legal techniques or concepts, but rather, approaches law and justice as ethnographic subjects of inquiry. In doing so we will consider subjects such as language, gender, class, and religion and their effects upon the experiences of people involved in processes of conflict and their resolution. Finally we will ask how well law 'travels' between societies, and between different levels of the same society: how do concepts such as legal pluralism, the cultural defense, and universal human rights affect the theory and practice of law?

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 lecture x 11 weeks, 1 seminar x 11 weeks, 1 case study presentation session.

Scheduled learning hours: 35

Guided independent study hours: 265

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 50%, 2-hour Written Examination = 50%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 50%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 50%

Re-assessment: Coursework = 50%, 2-hour Written Examination = 50%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr M A Demian
Module teaching staff: Dr M Demian