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Paper short abstract

This talk examines the AfCHPR and Oromo indigenous courts as complementary pathways to decolonising justice and jurisdiction. Drawing on fieldwork in Ethiopia and Tanzania, we suggest to rethink courts as sites of cultural recognition and places of peace for future reinventions.

Paper long abstract

This talk examines the role of transcontinental (the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights) and indigenous courts (Ethiopia) as two divergent but complementary judicial entities and pathways to decolonising justice and jurisdiction in (East) Africa. Based on recent fieldwork in Haramaya and Arusha, we analyse how decolonisation is taking place within and beyond the nation state, and interrogate how far a state-sponsored reinvention of tradition, such as the Oromo Gaddaa system in contemporary Ethiopia, intersects with other transformations needed for more transparent, just, and gender-equal access to and functioning of legal systems.

To engage these questions, we highlight how the Oromo peace courts and the AfCHPR contribute to new understandings of gendered discourses and women’s rights, and how they expand narratives of decolonisation, justice, and ownership. We suggest that legal activism transcends borders to challenge impunity and inspire new 'cultures of justice' that empower local ownership and meaningful processes beyond colonial heritage. Ultimately, we propose understanding these legal institutions not only as instruments of punishment but as sites of recognition, resistance, and visions of glocal justice beyond coloniality. We thus argue that judicial proceedings grounded in cultural heritage and future-oriented ideas can be transformative in restoring ownership, challenging established gender roles, and countering lingering colonial epistemologies.