Vorlesung: Introduction to Law and Anthropology (FS 2026)

The course “Introduction to Law and Anthropology” will take place in spring semester 2026. It will be held in English and is directed to BA students in Law as well as in Anthropology.

To foster an open and interactive learning environment, the course will be held in person.

This course invites students to engage with a broad, legally pluralist understanding of law—one that extends beyond written legal texts to consider the roles of diverse social and legal actors in shaping the law. After exploring foundational questions—What is anthropology? What is law?—the course proceeds to address key themes such as kinship, litigation, human rights, and legal education, engaging with seminal works that have influenced the intellectual development of the field.

Students will gain hands-on experience with anthropological methods for studying law and legal practice through a mini-fieldwork project, which involves observing court proceedings or law classes. Subject to the schedule of the European Court of Human Rights, there will also be an optional field trip to Strasbourg to attend and observe a hearing. Some sessions will feature guest anthropologists—conducting research mostly in Global South contexts—who will share their empirical insights related to the course themes.

To be found in the Online Course Catalogue as well.

Materials will be uploaded on OLAT.

Students will be asked to give a brief presentation on the last session, sharing the findings of their observation/fieldwork, to the rest of the class. Depending on the class size, the final assessment might also include a short reflection piece.