Anthropology 261 - LAW & FAMILY IN SOUTH ASIA

In this class, we use ethnographic and historical research to examine what law and kinship can teach us about how the past shapes the present in post-colonial South Asia. We examine how a perspective that seriously considers law and kinship can help us better understand contemporary dilemmas in South Asia, ranging from controversy over women's right to inherit property, to the role of caste in contemporary democratic politics. As we do so, we read ethnographies, historical texts, and primary documents. No prior knowledge about South Asia necessary. (E)