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 and a speaker series.
Internship program
A summer internship program was launched in 2008 for Law
Students. Charlotte Bernard participated in the program in the
summer of 2009 at the Fox Mandal Little, Delhi. This is
administered by the Global Legal Studies Center as part of its
Study Abroad Program. Details
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:"From Shabhano to
Kausar Bano - Contextualizing the 'Muslim Woman' within a
Communalized Polity," by Flavia Agnes, 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.
- 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