In recent years, several faculty with interests and expertise on various aspects of law in South Asia have joined UW-Madison. They join long-time UW-Madison Professor Marc Galanter whose extensive work on law in South Asia has been extremely influential in both American scholarship and in South Asia.
In 2006, an informal working group was established to coordinate and promote events pertaining to South Asian legal studies and to facilitate intellectual exchange between faculty and students at the University with shared interests in the field. The disciplinary interests of the working group include political science, history, religious studies, and, within law itself, environmental law, human rights, Islamic law, constitutional law, discrimination, women’s studies, and legal profession. More complete descriptions of faculty interests are given on the respective websites for individual faculty listed below. Students or faculty interested in joining the occasional discussions of the working group are encouraged to contact any of the faculty listed below.
Scholars affiliated with the Working Group
Atapattu, Sumudu – UW Law School
Davis, Donald Jr. – Department of Languages
& Cultures of Asia, UW-Madison
Galanter,
Marc – John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law and South
Asian Studies, UW-Madison
James
Jaffe -
Professor, College of Letters and Sciences, UW-Whitewater
Quraishi,
Asifa – UW Law School
Sharafi,
Mitra – UW Law School, Legal Studies & Department of
History, UW-Madison
Sinha, Aseema – Department of Political
Science, UW-Madison
Shubha
Ghosh - Professor, UW Law School
Nilesh
Patel - UW Law School
Activities
The group has been involved in several events including the pre-conference workshop on South Asia Legal Studies which is organized to coincide with the annual South Asia Conference. The group has initiated several activities including an internship program for Law Students (administered by the Global Legal Studies Center as part of its Study Abroad Program) and a speaker series.
Fall 2009
Intenstive Course on Law, Pluralism and Women's Studies by
Flavia Agnes
The Global Legal Studies Center together with several departments and Centers on campus received funding from the International Institute under its Distinguished International Visitor Fund to bring Flavia Agnes to campus to teach an intensive course on Law, Pluralism and Women's Studies. Details
Pre-Conference workshop
This year's South Asian Legal Studies Pre-conference Workshop will be held on October 22, 2009, 2-6pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law). Those interested in attending please register by contacting Don Davis Jr. (drdavis@wisc.edu), or Sumudu Atapattu (saatapattu@wisc.edu) by October 19, 2009 to facilitate planning although we welcome walk-ins too.
Sponsors: Global Legal Studies Center, UW Law
School, Center for South Asia, South Asia Legal Studies
Pre-conference Workshop, Research Circle on Role of Law in
Developing and Transition Countries and Legal Studies (tbc).
Workshop
agenda
Speaker series
- October 8, 2009: Lecture by Flavia
Agnes (title tba), Center for South Asia fall lecture
series, co-sponsored by GLS and the South Asia Legal Studies
Working Group, part of the speaker series on "Role of Law in
Developing and Transition Countries," sponsored by the Global Legal
Studies Center with support from the Division of International
Studies, the International Institute and Global Studies,
Noon-1:00pm, 206 Ingraham Hall, details pending.
- October 22, 2009: "Justice to the People" - Public Interest Litigation and the Supreme Court of Pakistan, by Professor Martin Lau (SOAS), part of the speaker series on "Role of Law in Developing and Transition Countries," sponsored by the Global Legal Studies Center with support from the Division of International Studies, the International Institute and Global Studies, co-sponsored by Center for South Asia and the South Asia Legal Studies Working Group, Noon-1:15pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law).
Past activities
Spring 2009
-
March 5, 2009: "Equality and Freedom in the Culture of the Developing World," by Judge Christopher Weeramantry, former Vice President of the International Court of Justice, part of the speaker series on "Role of Law in Developing and Transition Countries," sponsored by the Global Legal Studies Center with support from the Division of International Studies, the International Institute and Global Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for South Asia and South Asia Legal Studies Working Group, 206 Ingraham Hall, Noon-1pm. All are welcome.
-
April 14, 2009: "The Human Right to Identity: The Legal Regulation of Personal Names," by Professor Alison Renteln, Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, University of Southern California, sponsored by GLS and South Asia Legal Studies Working Group and hosted by Professor Mitra Sharafi, Noon - 1:15pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law).
-
April 29, 2009: "Law and the Regulation of Magic in Colonial Cultures," by Professor Robert McQueen, University of Griffith, Australia, sponsored by GLS and South Asia Legal Studies Working Group and hosted by Professor Mitra Sharafi, noon-1:15pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law).
Fall 2008
Pre-conference workshop on South Asian Legal Issues
Thursday, October 16, 2008,
2:00 -6:00 pm (Followed by dinner for speakers and invited guests),
Lubar Commons (7200 Law), University
of Wisconsin Law
School
In October 2007, the first South Asian Legal Studies pre-conference
workshop coincided with a Madison meeting of contributors to
Law and Hinduism: An Introduction, bringing together over
50 scholars based in the US and Asia. The workshop aimed to build a
sense of community among scholars working on law—past and
present—in the context of South Asia and its diasporas. In
particular, the meeting aimed to facilitate contact between those
working in law schools and those in the social sciences and
humanities.
The 2008 South Asian Legal Studies pre-conference workshop continues in the same vein. Narendra Subramanian (McGill University), Gopika Solanki (Carleton University), and Jeff Redding (St. Louis University) will speak on the first plenary session of the afternoon, a panel addressing cultural accommodation and legal pluralism in South Asia. The panel, chaired by Marc Galanter (UW-Madison), will explore the intersection between the personal law system, communal identities, gender politics, and institutional legal cultures in South Asia. The second panel will analyze the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan. Chaired by Anita Weiss (University of Oregon), this session will feature Anil Kalhan (Drexel University), Ali Ahsan (McKinsey & Co.) and Sahar Shafqat (St. Mary’s College of Maryland).
Please e-mail Mitra Sharafi (sharafi@wisc.edu) by Friday, October 3, 2008 with your institutional
affiliation and contact details if you would like to attend.
Sponsors: Global Legal Studies Center, UW Law School,
Center for South Asia & South Asia Legal Studies Working
Group
Speaker Series/workshops
October 18, 2008: Roundtable at the Annual South Asia Conference on Legal, Ethical and Historical Reflections on Veena Das’ Life and Words, including Professors Mitra Sharafi and Donald Davis, Jr. (chair), Saturday, October 18, 2008, 1:45-3:30pm, Conference Room 4, Concourse Hotel, Madison, sponsored by the Center for South Asia and co-sponsored by the South Asia Legal Studies Working Group and the Global Legal Studies Center.
November 5, 2008: “Women’s Rights and Legal Advocacy: Lessons from India” by Dr Flavia Agnes (women’s rights lawyer, writer and director, Majlis, a center for rights discourse in Bombay), hosted by Professor Marc Galanter, November 5, 2008, Noon-1:15pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law) sponsored by Global Legal Studies Center, Center for South Asia, Human Rights Initiative of UW-Madison, South Asia Legal Studies Working Group, TARGET Research Circle and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. This lecture is part of the speaker series on “Role of Law in Developing and Transition Countries” sponsored by the Global Legal Studies Center with support from the Division of International Studies, the International Institute and Global Studies.
December 4, 2008: “Hari and Kumar go to HLS: The South Asian Graduate Experience at Harvard Law School” by Swethaa Ballakrishnen (Research Associate, UW Law School and Research Fellow, Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School), December 4, 2008, Noon – 1pm, 206 Ingraham Hall, sponsored by the Center for South Asia, Global Legal Studies Center and South Asia Legal Studies Working Group.
December 5-6, 2008: Workshop on Role of Law in Developing and
Transition Countries" - Several scholars of the
Working Group participated as resource persons at this
workshop.
Spring 2008
March 10, 2008: “Children’s Right to Privacy under International Law,” Dr Charika Marasinghe, founding director of Child Rights Law (CRL) International, consultant, children’s rights law and former Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, co-sponsored by the Center for South Asia, Global Legal Studies Center and the Human Rights Initiative at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Noon-1:00pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law). Open to all, no registration required.
March 27, 2008:"Law as the Theology of Ordinary Life: Lessons from Hindu Law" by Professor Donald R. Davis, Jr, Noon - 1pm, 220 Ingraham Hall
Abstract: The prevailing modern vision of law as secular, instrumental, and positive is a chimera produced in and by European and American nation-states and their courts over the last two centuries. The broader history of law in other times and places reveals notions and practices of law that challenge accepted 'truths' about law's reach and role in human life. In this presentation, a case is made that law everywhere may be profitably seen as the theology of ordinary life. At every level, the laws by which we lead our lives encode assumptions and ideas about what we aspire to as human beings and what we presume about ourselves and others, especially aspects of things near to us such as family, birth, death, sex, money, marriage, and work. Texts of the Hindu law tradition provide the inspiration and the evidence for the presentation, and the lessons learned from Hindu legal texts will serve to begin a new kind of conversation about law and the humanities.
April 18, 2008: "Muslim Women and
Divorce in India: Some Practical Implications of Legal Pluralism in
the Sphere of Family Law, " by Professor Sylvia
Vatuk, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology,
University of Illinois at Chicago, Lecture in the series Role of Law in Developing and Transitional Societies,
2:00-3:00pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law), sponsored
by the Global Legal Studies Center and co-sponsored by the Center
for South Asia and the South Asia Legal Studies Working Group.
QUestions? Contact Sumudu Atapattu (saatapattu@wisc.edu)
Fall 2007
October 11, 2007:
Workshop on South Asian Legal Studies ("Categories of Legal
Identity") to coincide with the South Asia Conference held annually
at UW-Madison, hosted by Professors Mitra
Sharafi and Marc Galanter of the UW Law School (details
pending). For more information, please go to http://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/preconf_2.html
Spring 2007
March 30, 2007: “Crafting Land Policy and Legislation in Afghanistan” by Dr. Yohannes Gebremedhin Terra Institute, Mt. Horeb, 12.00-1.00 pm, Lubar Commons (7200 Law), hosted by Professor Heinz Klug, sponsored by the Global Studies Center and co-sponsored by the Center for South Asia, UW-Madison. Dr. Gebremedhin is continuing in Afghanistan the theme of his U.W. Law School Ph.D. dissertation, "The Development of Law in Transitional Societies." His work since 2004 has focused on the upgrading of land tenure in urban informal settlements in Kabul and other Afghan cities combined with assisting an Inter-ministerial Land Commission to formulate a broad land policy framework for dealing with a wide range of land tenure issues.
February 8, 2007:
"The Changing Horizon of Human Rights in Sri Lanka: The Ethnic
Conflict, the Role of the Supreme Court and the influence of
International Law" Sumudu Atapattu, Associate
Director, Global Legal Studies Center, Center for South Asia Spring
Lecture Series, sponsored by the Center for South Asia and
co-sponsored by the GLSC, 2/8/07, noon – 1.00, 206 Ingram Hall.
For details contact Rachael
Weiss.
Fall 2006
October 18, 2006:
"Law-Dependent Public Goods: A Proposed Strategic Framework for a
Results-Based Approach to Legal and Judicial Reform” by
Professor Mohan Gopal, Head, National Judicial
Academy, Bhopal, India, and formerly, Vice Chancellor, National Law
School, Bangalore, India and Legal Advisor, Operations Policy,
World Bank Wednesday, 10/18/2006 1.20-3.20 pm, Lubar Commons (7200
Law), Hosted by Professor John Ohnesorge and sponsored by GLSI,
ILS, EALSC and CSA. Open to all, no registration required. For
details, contact Sumudu Atapattu.
October 26, 2006:
"The Art of Forgetting and Other Ways of Remembering: A Dialogue on
Political Violence and Memory,” documentary film on Sri Lanka and
presentation by Lisa Kois, human rights lawyer,
writer and film maker, the inaugural lecture in the series Law, War
and Human Security, hosted by Professor Heinz Klug, UW Law School
and Professor Helen Kinsella, UW Political Science, co-sponsored by
the Global Legal Studies Initiative, the Transnational Feminism
Research Circle and UW Political Science Department, Thursday,
10/26/06, 3.30-5.00 pm, Room 3260 Law. Open to all, no registration
required.