Understanding Disputes: The Politics of Argument

by Pat Caplan (Editor)

Overview

Are disputes ever really resolved, or do people need to find ways of accommodating them and living with the consequences? Can dispute settlement procedures at the local level be transferred to wider environments? In attempting to answer these questions, some of the foremost specialists in the anthropology of law and disputing behaviour examine how people in a variety of social settings, ranging from Ireland to East Africa, deal with quarrels and seek to resolve or accommodate them. This stimulating volume should be of interest to anyone concerned about the increase in conflict in many parts of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780854969258
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/06/1995
Series:	Explorations in Anthropology
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pat Caplan Goldsmiths College,University of London Gino Bedani Professor and Head of Italian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University College of Swansea

Table of Contents

Contents: P. Caplan, Introduction: Anthropology and the Study of Disputes - S. F. Moore, Imperfect Communications - L. Nader, Civilization and its Negotiations - E. Colson, The Contentiousness of Disputes - C. Johnson, Gentlemanly Values: Contesting Corruption Accusations in the Cities of London and Lagos in the Mid-1950s - M. Silverman, The 'Inhabitants' vs the 'Sovereign': A Historical Ethnography of the Making of the 'Middle Class' in an Irish Corporate Borough, 1840-1 - L. Caplan, The Milieu of Disputation: Managing Quarrels in East Nepal - D. Parkin, Disputing Human Passion: The Negotiation of the Meaning of Love among the Giriama of Kenya - S. Gaetz, 'Youth Development': Conflict and Negotiations in an Urban Irish Youth Club - P. Caplan, 'Law' and 'Custom': Marital Disputes on Northern Mafia Island, Tanzania - A. Southall, Courts of Death Among the Alur of Uganda

Editorial Reviews

I expect it to be both a popular and useful text for teaching the anthropology of law.” —David Brokensha, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology and Environmental Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara

“This is a book worht reading, and quite appropriate for undergraduate courses. It gives the flavour of recent ethnography in bite-sized, digestible chunks and illustrates theoretical ideas not only about disputes, but also, as Caplan points out, about more fundamental aspects of social life.” —JASO

From the Publisher

This is a book worht reading, and quite appropriate for undergraduate courses. It gives the flavour of recent ethnography in bite-sized, digestible chunks and illustrates theoretical ideas not only about disputes, but also, as Caplan points out, about more fundamental aspects of social life.

JASO

I expect it to be both a popular and useful text for teaching the anthropology of law.

David Brokensha