- Guest editor
- Year
- 2015
- Title
- Franz von Benda-Beckmann: Legal Pluralism in the Past and Future
- Journal
- Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
- Volume | Issue number
- 47 | 3
- Pages (from-to)
- 373-540
- Document type
- Special issue (Editorship)
- Faculty
- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG)
- Institute
- Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR)
- Abstract
-
This special issue contains a reflection on the importance of Franz von Benda-Beckmann for the study of legal pluralism. Von Benda-Beckmann (1941-2013) was a core figure in this interdisciplinary field. Not only did he, in the words of John Griffiths (2013, 8), make the concept of "legal pluralism" "central to the anthropology of law", he also achieved "something like a paradigm shift among enlightened legal scholars and sociologists of law, such that the pluralistic character of 'law' in society became generally accepted". Turner kicks off this special issue. He provides an introduction to the academic work of Franz von Benda-Beckmann, highlighting its importance for various forward-looking avenues of research in legal anthropology. His extended contribution is followed by two articles that situate von Benda-Beckmann's work in the space between law and anthropology. Anders defines his role in creating the subdiscipline of legal anthropology, while Good, departing from the notion of folk law, emphasizes von Benda-Beckmann's efforts to realize a solid comparative perspective. The following three articles highlight the contribution of Franz von Benda-Beckmann to property analysis and politics. Wiber, as well as Roth and coauthors, discuss von Benda-Beckmann's interest in debates over privatization and standardization of property rights. The latter authors focus specifically on the topic of water rights. Nuijten evaluates the relevance of von Benda-Beckmann's work for social movements that challenge a dominant (normative) order, drawing examples from the struggle of the Platform of Mortgage Victims in Spain. Vel and Bedner finally engage with von Benda-Beckmann's history of ethnographic fieldwork among the Minangkabau of Indonesia. They take his last coauthored monograph on the effects of administrative decentralization in Indonesia as a starting point. The postscript by Bavinck and Simon Thomas presents insights into the realization of the special issue and summarizes the various contributions. These contributions on the academic significance of von Benda-Beckmann's work are followed by a complete overview of his numerous publications.
- Link
- Final publisher version
- Language
- English
- Related publication
- Editorial
- Related publication
- Postscript
- Persistent Identifier
- https://hdl.handle.net/11245/1.502444
Disclaimer/Complaints regulations
If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library, or send a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.