Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course will provide students with a foundation in law and society in Asia, as one of the most important, but also challenged and challenging, area in the world today. Our objective is to facilitate a critical understanding of how law operates in Asian societies, and to prepare students for future engagement with the legal-political systems of (selected) Asian countries in various professional contexts.

In particular, the course will focus on South-East Asia, particularly Islamic countries, and India, in light of the complex social, legal and economic fabric that characterizes these areas, both building on historical and cultural heritages going back thousands of years.

The goal is to make the students familiar with the following topics:

- What observers of cultures and trends mean when they say that the 21st century will belong Asia? Is that correct to discuss the current economic prosperity of many Asian nation, using the label "Asia", "Asian Values", etc., to refer to specific qualities, such as strong family ties, hard work, etc? How the inherent cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and social diversity of Asia fits in with the world's perception of Asia as a cultural unit?

- Indian socio-legal history

- Current trends in Indian feminist movements and indigenous issues

- Have acquired a sound knowledge of Asian legal systems and an understanding of their origins and functions.

- Be able to evaluate the role of Asian legal, political and cultural spaces as means of achieving social change and social justice.

- Be able to illustrate how Asian laws are embedded in social life and to identify the nexus between law and culture, identity, religion, economy, and politics.

- Be able carry out interdisciplinary analysis of Asian legal issues, with an appropriate awareness of the purposes and limits of such a methodological approach.

- Have acquired a deeper knowledge of various social science approaches to research into Asian laws, and an understanding of their usefulness in relation to more narrowly legal approaches.

Module 1 (23 February-24 March) will be entirely online. Please click on the following link https://unito.webex.com/meet/rakhmat.hidayat to attend Module 1 lessons. Lessons will not be recorded.

The first lesson (23 February) can be attended also in presence, I will be in the classroom.

Module 2 (30 March-28 April) will be in presence (Aula Rosa, Corso Regina Margherita 60).

The slides of the lessons and the related materials will be uploaded on the Moodle platform, in order to allow the students to prepare themselves on the topic that will be discussed during the class. Students are therefore invited to sign up on the Moodle platform as any communication will be circulated via Moodle.

 

ATTENDANCE

In order to be considered as attending students, the students will have to attend 80% of classes, which means that students missing more than 3 lessons will be automatically considered as non-attending students.

 

FINAL EXAM

Attending students:

Attending students can choose between the written or oral exam.

If they opt for the written exam, they will have to submit two papers (3000 words each), one per module, at least 10 days before the date of the exam on which they intend to register the mark. Attending students will have to deepen one of the topics tackled during the module at their choosing.

The bibliography will be assessed (at least, 10 references: 4 book references and 6 international journal references). Newspaper articles or blog entries will not be taken into consideration.

If they choose the oral exam, they will be tested on the materials indicated for attending students.

Non-attending students:

Oral exam only, non-attending students materials.

The course will be articulated in two modules.

Module one

Module one will focus on South-East Asia and minority issues.

Details TBC

 

Module 2 (Dr. Chiara Correndo) will focus on:

• Law and society: relevant literature and the Asian context
• The Indian legal tradition, with specific attention to the Hindu one
• Colonialism in India: burden and impact on the contemporary Indian legal culture
• Contemporary Indian legal system: Constitution, personal laws and current legal challenges
• Women's rights: a feminist analysis of dowry, marriage and the condition of women, with a specific focus on feminist strategic litigation
• The Adivasi communities in India: gendered analysis of indigenous issues and relevant case law as regards land tenure and customary inheritance laws

Please, refer to the Moodle page for texts and documents (attending and non-attending students)