Traditional law continues to be relevant for the Svans (Georgians), who usually live in the highlands of the Caucasus, but who have also migrated to various parts of Georgia. To grasp its practice we draw on approaches in which its use is discussed as a strategy for '(re)asserting collective identities' (Benda-Beckmann) in order to enforce specific goals. But our research also shows another dimension of traditional law: more than in actual conflict resolutions, traditional law is found in narratives, that is in memories of how conflicts were resolved earlier and should be solved today. These stories, however, of how and when traditional law should be applied rarely correspond to lived reality. Drawing on Brubaker and Cooper, we argue that beside a rather instrumental motivated use of traditional law in asserting collective identities, its contemporary practice can only be fully understood if we also acknowledge its non-instrumental practice.
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Identity and Traditional Law
Local Legal Conceptions in Svan Villages, Georgia
Stéphane Voell, Natia Jalabadze, Lavrenti Janiashvili, and Elke Kamm
In Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2014
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 98–118 (20 total)
Mariske Westendorp, Bruno Reinhardt, Reinaldo L. Román, Jon Bialecki, Alexander Agadjanian, Karen Lauterbach, Juan Javier Rivera Andía, Kate Yanina DeConinck, Jack Hunter, Ioannis Kyriakakis, Magdalena Crăciun, Roger Canals, Cristina Rocha, Khyati Tripathi, Dafne Accoroni, and George Wu Bayuga
tombs of the Sufi saints) in Azerbaijan and Dagestan; rural bread-baking rituals in mountainous Svaneti, Georgia; the ‘unchurched’ shrines ( maturs and surbs ) attracting Armenian pilgrims; the recently revived Abkhaz pre-Christian holy places; the
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2019
- Article Type:
- Book Review
- Pages:
- 171–196 (26 total)