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- Convenors:
-
Danse de Bondt
(Utrecht University)
Annelien Bouland (University Carlos III)
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- Chair:
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Anne Griffiths
(Edinburgh University)
Short Abstract:
This panel builds on socio-legal theories on law and governance in Africa. It is concerned with the way people understand, give meaning to and navigate multiple (co)existing legal and normative orders that set several (overlapping or competing) rules for social, economic and political life.
Long Abstract:
Africa has experienced a long history of legal change. Central and particularly disruptive instances of such change are colonization and the concomitant importation of laws, as well as the definition of state boundaries, often resulting in complex legal settings where multiple legal and normative orders (co)exist and interact in the governance of social, economic and political relationships.
This complexity creates tension, as different frameworks of law and governance overlap and may compete for societal legitimacy. This also means that, in going about their everyday lives, people may choose between multiple norms and authorities while simultaneously being constrained by the social relationships in which they take part. Examples range from the street-level tax man, to a police officer trying to implement norms on gender-based violence, to a man quarrelling with his neighbour over the demarcation of his property. This panel is concerned with the way people understand, give meaning to and act upon legal, quasi-legal and normative orders. Existing scholarship highlights how people may make strategic choices in shopping between different forums. Other authors have equally drawn attention to the importance of the local context, power relationships and the social-economic networks people are engaged in. The aim of this panel is to discuss and build on these ideas. We welcome papers that contribute new case studies as well as papers with a more theoretical focus. We especially encourage academics from within the region of interest to reply.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 13 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
In this paper draw on the concept of social navigation to explore how, in matters of divorce, Senegalese women move and adapt in an environment characterised by legal plurality and an insistence on harmony, in which, next to the spouse, family members, neighbours and friends, play a key role.
Paper long abstract:
In Senegal, marriage and divorce are not commonly a matter of the court and the family code - implemented in 1972 -has only limited relevance. Several authors have proposed that this is due to its limited popular legitimacy, and indeed, since its creation, the code been criticized for failing to respect Islamic norms. Taken together, this raises the question as to how people do marry and divorce. This paper focuses on women's divorce trajectories, specifically. On the basis of the case of 'Ami' I explore how women move in an environment characterised by legal plurality and an insistence on harmony, in which, next to the spouse, family members, neighbours and friends, play a key role. In my analysis, I draw on the concept of social navigation (Vigh 2009; Vigh 2006) to highlight how women move and adapt in a moving environment, made up of different legal and normative orders but also of different social embeddedness and social horizons. Doing so, I argue that the concept of social navigation is a useful tool for analyzing how people act in environments where different legal and normative orders co-exist. The paper draws on material collected during a twelve month fieldwork period (2016-2017) in the secondary city of Tivaouane, Senegal.
Paper short abstract:
Through ethnographic fieldwork in rural Kisoro, western Uganda, this paper lays bare the alcohol narratives and practices by which people understand, give meaning and discuss the governance of social, economic and political life in their community.
Paper long abstract:
Uganda is home to a variety of different ethnic groups, tribes and clan systems. British colonial heritage of a central state government system has severely disrupted these pre-colonial governance systems, resulting in a multitude of normative legal orders that co-exist, overlap and/or compete in governing social, economic and political relationships. In rural Kisoro, western Uganda, home brewing and sharing of beers is heavily embedded within local clan council systems. These practices are contrary to Ugandan state law, which distances governance policies from alcohol and sets strict rules on the production and circulation of alcohol. Nonetheless, in practice alcohol is routinely used by government officials as means of governing their locality and finding common ground with the people in the community. The drinks serve as a form of payment through which the exchange of services and goods are negotiated, they serve as fines when members of the community break rules and they serve as a form of arbitration, as through the sharing of alcohol quarrels are solved and relationships are (re)established. These practices raise questions on what role alcohol plays in connecting and disrupting community level governance practices in western Uganda. Based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in Kisoro district, this paper shows how people in their everyday life understand, give meaning to and act upon law and governance, and in doing so, re-establish social, economic and political relationships.
Paper short abstract:
South Sudan's legal landscape is defined by complexity and violence. Plural laws, norms and authorities govern life in this war-torn state. This paper explores how community activists and paralegals navigate a fractured legal terrain in pursuit of security and rights, during an atrocious civil war.
Paper long abstract:
South Sudan's legal landscape is defined by complexity, violence and local processes of order-making. Plural laws, norms and authorities govern everyday life in this newly-established war-torn state. This paper explores how community activists and paralegals navigate a fractured legal terrain in pursuit of security and rights, during an atrocious civil war. It is based on extensive research in six government-held towns over four years (2014-18) for a book project, including a collaborative action research project to document local court proceedings. It foregrounds the experiences and perspectives of South Sudanese activists, including one of the co-presenters, revealing how they conceptualise and harness legality in support of vulnerable people. It identifies a critical legal consciousness among activists, rooted in common experiences of injustice and an eclectic knowledge of statutory, customary and humanitarian legal regimes and cultural norms. It shows how the law is used as a tool of repression against activists and how they employ their knowledge of the law and their social networks in creative negotiations with arbitrary and violent authorities. It explores struggles for 'law from below,' and considers their potential as a foundation for justice.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will provide critical reflections on the various waves of socio-legal reforms in Africa's extractive minerals sector and examine the significance of integrated customary and informal land laws for the achievement of sustainable mining on the continent.
Paper long abstract:
Many countries in Africa are positioning themselves to harness the maximum economic benefits from their abundant mineral wealth in the coming years through various economic and legal reforms. These tedious but steady reforms hinge on navigating a multiplicity of local, national and international laws and norms governing property rights. The legal landscape on mineral-bearing lands on the continent is a potpourri of traditional, colonial and modern state laws that so often clash at various points. The persistence of these legal frictions and the resulting lack of economic development in local mining communities is a testament to the urgent need for a new sustained approach on mining in the sub-region.
Through a legal pluralist approach, this paper will question the efficacy of the prevailing top-down legal and institutional approaches and examine the resilience of customary/informal land laws in mining communities on the continent. Though this paper focuses on Africa's mineral laws, I am specifically interested in a comparison between Ghana and Senegal. Both countries represent relatively more matured yet different phases of development in their mining regimes in West Africa.
This paper will seek to answer whether the integration and prominence of customary and informal land laws can help in ending poverty that has become synonymous with local mining communities. It will address how informal and customary laws can help to achieve the rule of law and influence international law by extracting valuable lessons from traditional governance of mineral bearing lands for sustainable development on the continent.