Legal pluralism as co-presence: Disobeying the hierarchies of the western canon

Sara Araújo

doi:10.35295/osls.iisl.1931

Authors

Sara Araújo Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1931

Keywords:

Legal pluralism, legal and political imagination, legal maps, law and epistemology, decolonizing sociolegal thinking

Abstract

This paper aims to offer a contribution for the debate on how to decolonize sociolegal thinking by discussing possibilities of decolonizing legal pluralism. Avoiding the endless debate about what is law, and focused on the need to disobey modern epistemological hierarchies, I use a cartographic metaphor – law as map - to argue that legal centralism is not only a fiction, but a Eurocentric instrument that limits political imagination. Law, in its plurality, is an indicator of the world’s possibilities. Legal pluralism must be more than a marginal field, but a core instrument to expand legal and political possibilities. After addressing the role of modern law as an instrument that legitimizes capitalism, I claim that we need to move ahead from modern dichotomies that fail to decolonize science. Finally, using notes from fieldwork in East-Timor and Mozambique, I reflect as a feminist woman on how to learn from unfamiliar legal maps.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Views 273
Downloads:
First_Online_Araujo_OSLS 187

Author Biography

Sara Araújo, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra

Sara Araújo is a senior researcher at the Centre for Social Studies. She holds a PhD in Law, Justice and Citizenship in the 21st century and co-founded the PhD Programme in Sociology of the State, Law and Justice where she now teaches. She started her career at the Permanent Observatory for the Portuguese Justice and was part of the research team of the Legal and Judiciary Training Centre of Mozambique. More recently, she undertook funded research for a diagnosis study of justice in East-Timor and was a post-doctoral researcher at the European project ETHOS - Towards a European THeory Of juStice and fairness. She was co-editor of the books Dynamics of Legal Pluralism in Mozambique (Kapicua, 2012) and Decolonizing constitutionalism: Beyond false or impossible lessons (Routledge, 2023). Email address: sara@ces.uc.pt

References

Ahmed, S., 2004. Affective economies. Social Text [online], 22(2(79)), 117–139. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-22-2_79-117 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-22-2_79-117

Ahmed, S., 2021. Complaint! Durham/London: Duke University Press.

Araújo, S., 2008. Pluralismo jurídico em África. Ficção ou realidade? Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online], 83, 121–139. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.468 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.468

Araújo, S., 2012. Toward an ecology of justices: An Urban and Rural Study of Mozambican Plurality. In: H. Kyed et al., eds., The dynamics of legal pluralism in Mozambique. Maputo: Kapicua, 109–129.

Araújo, S., 2014. Ecologia de Justiças a Sul e a Norte. Cartografias Comparadas das Justiças Comunitárias em Maputo e em Lisboa [online]. PhD dissertation, Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/26793

Araújo, S., 2015. Desafiando a colonialidade. A ecologia de justiças como instrumento da descolonização jurídica. Hendu - Revista Latino-Americana de Direitos Humanos, 6(1), 26–46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18542/hendu.v6i1.2460

Araújo, S., 2016. O primado do direito e as exclusões abissais: reconstruir velhos conceitos, desafiar o cânone. Sociologias [online], 18(43), 88–115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1590/15174522-018004304 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/15174522-018004304

Araújo, S., 2021. Os silêncios da austeridade e dos protestos e as exclusões abissais em Portugal. e-cadernos CES [online], 35, 13–36. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/eces.6120 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/eces.6120

Araújo, S., 2023. Modern Constitutionalism, Legal Pluralism and the Waste of Experience. In: B.S. Santos, S.A. Araújo and O.A. Andrade eds., Decolonizing Constitutionalism. Beyond False or Impossible Promises. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003391920-7

Araújo, S., and Brito, L., 2018. Tensions between Institutionalised Political Justice and Experienced (Mis)Recognition: Portuguese Case Study on the Experiences of Roma Communities [online]. H2020 ETHOS Report. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/87021

Araújo, S., and Meneses, M.P., 2018. The effectiveness of social dialogue as an instrument to promote labour justice [online]. H2020 ETHOS Report. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5c0334675&appId=PPGMS

Brabazon, H., 2017. Introduction. Understanding Neoliberal Legality. In: H. Brabazon, ed., Neoliberal Legality. Understanding the Role of Law in the Neoliberal Project. Abingdon: Routledge, 1−21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315544106

Butler, J. 2016. Frames of War. When Is Life Grievable? London: Verso.Capra, F., and Mattei, U., 2015, The Ecology of Law. Toward a Legal System in Tune with Nature and Community. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Castro Caldas, J., 2017. Economizing on Justice [online]. ETHOS D6.1. Available at: https://ethos-europe.eu/sites/default/files/docs/d6.1_website_report_complete.pdf

Castro-Gómez, S., 2005. Ciências sociais, violência epistêmica e o problema da “invenção do outro”. In: E. Lander, ed., A colonialidade do saber: eurocentrismo e ciências sociais. Perspectivas latino-americanas. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: CLACSO.

Castro-Gómez, S., and Grosfoguel, R., 2007. Prólogo. Giro decoloniagrl, teoria crítica y pensamento heterárquico. In: S. Castro-Gómez and R. Grosfoguel, eds., El giro decolonial. Reflexiones para una diversidad epistémica más allá del capitalismo global. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre.

Chakrabarty, D., 2000a. A Small History of Subaltern Studies. In: H. Schwarz and S. Ray, eds., A Companion to Postcolonial Studies. Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell.

Chakrabarty, D., 2000b. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton University Press.

Chimni, B.S., 2006. Third world approaches to international law: a manifesto. International Community Law Review, 8, 3–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/187197306779173220

Collins, P.H., 2002. Black Feminist Thought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge.

Crenshaw, K., 1989. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum [online], 1989(1), 139–167. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

Cusak, S., 2014. Eliminating Judicial Stereotyping. Equal access to justice for women in gender-based violence cases Equal access to justice for women in gender-based violence cases. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, June 9.

Escobar, A., 2003. “Mundos y conocimientos de otro modo”. El programa de investigación de modernidad/colonialidad latino-americano. Tabula Rasa, 1, 51–86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.188

Fanon, F., 2008. Black Skin. White Masks. New York: Grove. (Originally published in 1952).

Federici, S., 2009. Caliban and the Witch. New York: Autonomedia.

Ferreira, A.C., 2016. Política e Sociedade. Teoria Social em Tempo de Austeridade. Porto: Vida Económica.

Fitzpatrick, P., 1992. The Mythology of Modern Law. London: Routledge.

Fricker, M., 2007. Epistemic Injustice. Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001

Galanter, M., 1966. The modernization of law. In: M. Winer, ed., Modernization. New York: Basic Books.

Galeano, G., 1998. Patas arriba, la escuela del mundo al revés. Madrid: Siglo XXI.

Gentili, A.M., 1998. O leão e o caçador. Uma história da África sub-sahariana dos séculos XIX e XX. Maputo: Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique.

Goldberg, D.T., 2009. The threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism. Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304695

Gomes, C., et al., 2003. Os tribunais comunitários. In: B.S. Santos and J.C. Trindade, eds., Conflito e Transformação Social: Uma Paisagem das Justiças em Moçambique. Porto: Afrontamento.

Gomes, R., 2018. Se a história é nossa deixa que nóis escreve. In: R. Gomes, O relevo da Voz. Um grito cartográfico dos saraus de São Paulo. Tese de doutoramento, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Cap I, 18–47.

Griffiths, J., 1986. What is Legal Pluralism? Journal of Legal Pluralism [online], 18(24), 1–55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1986.10756387 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1986.10756387

Grosfoguel, R., and Suarez-Krabbe, J., 2013. Letter to the European White Left. In: Alice Project, ed., Letters to the Europeans. Coimbra: Alice CES, 74-91.

Guha, R., ed., 1984. Subaltern Studies III: Writings on Indian History and Society. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Hall, M., and Young, T., 1997. Confronting Leviathan: Mozambique since independence. London: Hurst & Company.

Hall, S., 1992. The West and the Rest; Discourse and Power. In: S. Hall and B. Gieben, eds., Formations of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

hooks, b., 2000. All about love. New visions. New York: William Morrow.

José, A.C., and Araújo, S., 2016. Redes de resolução de conflitos no bairro de Inhagoia B. In: A.C. José, ed., Retratos da justiça moçambicana: Redes informais de Resolução de conflitos em espaços urbanos e rurais. Maputo: Centro de Formação Jurídica e Judiciária, 45–122.

Kaiwar, V., 2014. Postcolonial Orient. The Politics of Difference and the Project of Provincialising Europe. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

Kapur, R., 2018. Gender, Alterity and Human Rights. Freedom in a bowl. Cheltenham: DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788112536

Kyed, H., and Trindade, J.C., 2012. A dinâmica do pluralismo jurídico em Moçambique. In: H. Kyed et al., eds., A dinâmica do pluralismo jurídico em Moçambique. Maputo: CESAB.

Lander, E., 2005. Ciências sociais: saberes coloniais e eurocêntricos. In: E. Lander, ed., A colonialidade do saber: eurocentrismo e ciências sociais. Perspectivas latino-americanas. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: CLACSO.

Lugones. M., 2010. Toward a Decolonial Feminism. Hypatia [online], 25(4), pp. 742-759. Available at: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40928654 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01137.x

Maldonado-Torres, N., 2008. A topologia do ser e a geopolítica do conhecimento: modernidade, império e colonialidade. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online], 80, 71–114. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.695 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.695

Mamdani, M., 1996. Citizen and Subject. Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton University Press.

Mattei, U., and Morpurgo, M., 2009. Global Law and Plunder: The Dark Side of the Rule of Law. Bocconi School of Law Student-Edited Papers [online], No. 2009-03/EN. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1437530 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1437530

Mattei, U., and Nader, L., 2008. Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal. Malden: Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470696552

Mbembe, A., 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.

Mbembe, A., 2019. Necropolitics. Durham: Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007227

Meneses, M.P., et al., 2003. As autoridades tradicionais no contexto do pluralismo jurídico. In: B.S. Santos and J.C. Trindade, eds., Conflito e Transformação Social: Uma Paisagem das Justiças em Moçambique. Porto: Afrontamento.

Meneses, M.P., et al., 2017. Para uma justiça de matriz timorense. O contributo das justiças comunitárias, Dili: CRL-TL.

Merry, S.E., 2006. Human Rights and Gender Violence. Translating International Law into Local Justice. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226520759.001.0001

Mignolo, W.D., 2003. Historias locales/diseños globales: colonialidad, conocimientos subalternos y pensamiento fronterizo. Madrid: Akal.

Mignolo, W.D., 2010. Desobediencia epistémica: Retórica de la modernidad, lógica de la colonialidad y gramática de la decolonialidad. Buenos Aires: Del Signo.

Mignolo, W.D., and Walsh, C.E., eds., 2018. On Decoloniality. Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham/London: Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822371779

Moore, S.F., 1986. Social Facts and Fabrications: "Customary" Law on Kilimanjaro, 1880–1980. Cambridge/New York/Port Chester/Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge University Press.

Mudimbe, V.Y., 1988. The invention of Africa. Gnosis, philosophy and the order of knowledge. London: Indiana University Press.

Nunn, K.B., 1997. Law as a Eurocentric Enterprise. Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice [online], 15(2), 323−371. Available at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/lawineq/vol15/iss2/2

Oliveira, L.R., 2020. Emicida: AmarElo – É Tudo Pra Ontem [documentary]. Netflix [online]. Laboratório Fantansta. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/es/title/81306298

Peterson, S.V., 2013. The Intended and Unintended Queering of States/Nations. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism [online], 13(1), 57−68. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12021

Quijano, A., 1991. Colonialidad y Modernidad/Racionalidad. Perú Indígena, 13(29), 11–29.

Rodríguez Maeso, S., ed., 2021. O estado do racismo em Portugal. Lisboa: Tinta da China.

Said, E., 1978. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Santos, B.S., 1987. Law: A Map of Misreading. Toward a Postmodern Conception of Law. Journal of Law and Society [online], 14(3), 279−302. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1410186 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1410186

Santos, B.S., 2002. Towards a New Legal Common Sense. London: Butterworths.

Santos, B.S., 2006. The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique. Law & Society Review, 40(1), 39–76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2006.00258.x

Santos, B.S., 2014. Epistemologies of the South. Boulder: Paradigm. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315634876

Santos, B.S., 2018. The End of the Cognitive Empire. The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South. Durham: Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478002000

Santos, B.S., Araújo, S.A., and Andrade, O.A., eds., 2023. Decolonizing Constitutionalism. Beyond False or Impossible Promises. New York: Routledge.

Simião, D., 2006. O feiticeiro desencantado: gênero, justiça e violência doméstica em Timor-Leste. Anuário Antropológico/2005. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro, 127–154.

Sousa Júnior, J.G., 2019. O Direito Achado na Rua: Condições Sociais e Fundamentos Teóricos. Revista Direito e Práxis [online], 10(4), 2776−2817. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2019/45688 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2019/45688

Spivak, G., 1988. Can the Subaltern Speak? In: L. Grossberg and G. Nelson, eds., Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Houndmills: Macmillan.

Sumich, J., 2008. Construir uma nação: ideologias de modernidade da elite moçambicana. Análise Social, 43(2), 319–345.

Vergès, F., 2023. Um feminismo decolonial. Lisbon: Orfeu Negro.

Wilson, A., 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context: An Introduction. In: R. Wilson, ed., Human Rights, Culture and Context. London/Chicago: Pluto Press.

Wolkmer, A.C., 1994. Pluralismo Jurídico. Fundamentos de uma Nova Cultura do Direito. São Paulo: Alfa Omega.

Young, R.J.C., 2003. Postcolonialism. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780192801821.001.0001