Understanding Disputes: The Politics of Argument

Description

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.

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

'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