16-20 October 2006, Oaxtepec, Mexico

V CONGRESS OF THE LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY NETWORK

16-20 OCTOBER 2006, OAXTEPEC, MEXICO

(V Congreso de la Red Latinoamericana de Antropología Jurídica)

ENGLISH VERSION

PONENCIAS DEL CURSO (PDF) / PONENCIAS Mesas CONGRESO / ACTAS DEL CONGRESO / Informe finaldel CURSO / Final report (English) / directorio de participantes / PAGINA CONGRESO EN CIESAS
PAGINA RELAJU / CURSO PRE-CONGRESO / CONVOCATORIA CONGRESO RELAJU 2006 / CONFERENCIAS Y MESAS TEMATICAS CONGRESO / CALL 2006 English VERSION / FICHA DE REGISTRO MEXICO 2006 / PAGINA ALERTANET

The organizers of the 5th continental meeting of the Latin American Legal Anthropology Network (RELAJU) invite all members of RELAJU, academics, activists involved in the defense of human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples and all those interested in promoting diversity and pluralism in Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in the V continental meeting of RELAJU. This will be held in Oaxtepec, Morelos, Mexico, between 16 and 20 of October 2006.

Background

The Latin American Legal Anthropology Network (RELAJU) was formed in 1997 at the 49th International Congress of Americanists held in Quito, Ecuador. RELAJU is linked to the Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism, comprised of specialists in the field of law, anthropology and sociology. Since 1979 the Commission has, in turn, also been part of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES). IUAES is part of the International Association of Legal Sciences (IALS), within the main office of UNESCO.

RELAJU is comprised of activists, anthropologists, lawyers, sociologists and other specialists in the social sciences from around the world who work in Latin America in the study and promotion of legal pluralism and a critical perspective on legal anthropology. Amongst its objectives are to analyse, study and increase awareness about indigenous law, popular legal forms and legal pluralism. It also addresses the theoretical and practical problems arising from the relationship between state and non-state forms of law, and the new forms of this relationship which have arisen in the context of the transnationalization of law and rights.

Members of RELAJU hold bi-annual international meetings with the aim of promoting debate and exchange around issues of interest to its members. Four meetings have been held to date: the first when RELAJU was established, with the theme “Legal Pluralism in Latin America”, which took place in Quito, Ecuador, in August 1997. The second international meeting, “Customary Law and Legal Pluralism: Challenges for the Third Millenium” was held in Arica, Chile, in March 2000. In 2002 the third meeting was held in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, with the theme “Legal Pluralism: Past and Present”. In August 2004 the 4th continental meeting of RELAJU, “Globalization and Legal Pluralism: social and legal struggles in the construction of intercultural states” was held in Quito Ecuador. At the 2004 Quito meeting it was decided that the 2006 meeting would be held in Mexico.

Principles

The theme of the 2006 congress is Justice and Diversity: Challenges of Globalization. This aims to promote an interdisciplinary debate between activists, anthropologists, sociologists and lawyers about key problems and issues related to pluralism, social justice and ethnic, cultural and gender diversity. We aim to broaden the debate in legal anthropology to include problems affecting contemporary society in different social fields (urban, rural and transnational) and socio-cultural sectors (indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, vulnerable sectors and cultural minorities). We also aim to discuss the alternatives, responses and challenges that societies are facing as a consequence of migration, new identities and multicultural realities structuring nation states, as well as the relationships between these phenomena and the fields of law, rights and justice.

In order to achieve these objectives we have identified four key areas for analysis: 1. Globalization, legality, collective rights and justice; 2. Consolidation or weakening of plural states; 3. Multiculturalism, transnationalism and rights; and 4. New challenges for legal anthropology. The congress aims to review current debates around these themes and to advance practical and theoretical alternatives in order to promote plural states in Latin America.

Activities

On the 13th and 14th of October a course for students of law and anthropology will be held, with the title “Main issues in legal anthropology”. The course will be taught by renowned experts in legal anthropology who will give four two hour lectures for each day of the course.

The RELAJU congress will be organized in panels and keynote addresses and will run for four days (between 16 and 20 October), in all day sessions. On Monday 16th in the afternoon the inaugural lecture will take place to open the congress. On subsequent days one keynote address will be held in the morning and another in the afternoon, followed by the panels, three of which will take place simultaneously.

The keynote addresses will be given by renowned academics and representatives of indigenous peoples, and will last for 45 minutes each, followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers.

On the last day of proceedings a special session entitled “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Problems, Challenges and Perspectives” will be held, with the participation of indigenous leaders from different countries across the region. This session is coordinated by two indigenous representatives. On the last day a final session will be held to evaluate current perspectives within legal anthropology, evaluating the congress and identifying future topics for research.

Following the congress, the general assembly of RELAJU will be held in the morning of the 20th of October for members of the network.

Every panel will be comprised of between 5 and 7 speakers and will be coordinated by one or two specialists in the respective area, who will be responsible for organizing the panel and processing the papers presented. One of the panel coordinators should act as discussant. Each paper presenter will have 20 minutes for their intervention, and each panel will have time for questions and debate. It is expected that there will be some 18 panels with approximately 70 papers and six keynote addresses.

The themes of the keynote addresses and the panels proposed by the congress organizers and panel coordinators are as follows:

Keynote addresses

Rodolfo Stavenhagen
colmex, Mexico / Inaugural lecture: Experiences and Challenges of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Boaventura de Souza Santos, University of Coimbra, Portugal / Globalization, Justice and Diversity.
Sally Engle Merry,
N.Y.U., USA. / Contemporary Debates in Legal Anthropology: Human Rights, Gender and Multiculturalism.
Héctor Díaz Polanco,
CIESAS, Mexico / Diversity, Democracy and Indigenous Peoples.
Carlos Frederico Marés, Catholic University of Paraná, Brazil / Indigenous Peoples and National States: Development Alternatives.
Xavier Albó, Bolivia / The Bolivian Constituent Assembly: indigenous peoples and the re-foundation of the state.
Round Table of Indigenous leaders
Organized by Martha Sánchez (Mexico) and Máximo Ba Tiul (Guatemala) / Indigenous Peoples: Plural States and Globalization.

Thematic Panels

Issues

Themes

organizers

1. Globalization, legality, collective rights and justice / Community justice(s) in Latin America. / Rachel Sieder (UK)

Rosembert Ariza (Colombia)

Indigenous peoples and autonomy in the face of globalization. / Consuelo Sánchez (Mexico)

Fernando García (Ecuador)

Custom, law and land tenure. / Willem Assies (Holanda)

Rights and indigenous political participation in electoral processes in Latin America. / François Lartigue (México)

Diego Iturralde (Ecuador)

issues

Themes

organizers

2. Consolidation or weakening of plural states / Globalization and indigenous peoples: natural resources and transnational companies. / Magdalena Gómez (Mexico)

From law to practice: judicial practices and the recognition of cultural diversity. / Héctor Ortiz Elizondo (Mexico)

Multicultural constitutionalism and indigenous rights. / Raquel Yrigoyen (Peru)

Morita Carrasco (Argentina)

Towards the exercise of territorial rights: realities and obstacles within a new international context. / Ana Hilda Ramírez (Mexico)

Mikel Berraondo (Spain)

Legal pluralism and globalization. / José E. R. Ordoñez Cifuentes (Mexico)

3. Multiculturalism, transnationalism and rights / Multicultural citizenships: exclusion, racism and discrimination. / Laura Valladares (Mexico)

Milka Castro (Chile)

Human and indigenous rights within neoliberal globalization: perspectives from anthropology and law. / Juan Carlos Martínez (Mexico)

Shannon Speed (USA)

Migration, identity and law from a transnational perspective. / Liliana Suárez Navaz (Spain)

Ninna Sorensen (Denmark)

Between the rights of peoples and gender rights: indigenous women in Latin America and their struggles for access to justice. / Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo (Mexico)

Emma Cervone (USA)

Universalism, globalization and rights in multicultural societies. / José del Val (Mexico)
y Carlos Zolla (Mexico)
4. New challenges for legal anthropology / Legal anthropological studies with non-indigenous sectors. / Esther Sánchez Botero (Colombia)

Gender and interlegality: normative tensions and social practices. / Victoria Chenaut (Mexico)

Rossana Barragán (Bolivia)

Itinerant customs: legal pluralism and state justice in urban contexts. / Yuri Escalante (Mexico)

Rebecca Igreja (Brazil)

Afro-descendants in America: rights, identity and ethnic-racial discrimination. / Odile Hoffman (France - Mexico)

Gina Chávez (Ecuador)

Participation

Participation in the congress and the course will be charged at the same rate for nationals and non-nationals. The next bulletin will provide details about costs, inscription and means of payment. The course will take place in the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City between 13th and 14th of October. Foreign students who wish to take part will be given a grant to cover the cost of the course, but should finance their own travel and maintenance costs. Please contact Laura Valladares (Mexico) () and the congress organizers () if you are interested in participating. The details for the course can be found via the following link:

The congress will take place in the Conventions Centre in Oaxtepec, Morelos, one hour from Mexico City. For this reason all participants should stay in the same hotel. The next bulletin will provide details about room costs, but an effort will be made to keep these low. We will also provide information about visa requirements and remind everyone that visa applications for Mexico can take a considerable amount of time and that they therefore should be initiated as soon as possible. Transfer between Mexico City and the Convention Centre will be provided by the organizers.

There are two categories of assistance at the congress: paper giver and as an attendee. Proof of participation will be provided for both. The call for papers is now open; acceptance of papers depends on available space and the view of the panel organizers. The last day for sending abstracts for papers is the 30th of April 2006. The final date for sending completed papers to be included in the conference book is the 30th of August 2006.

Please send abstracts directly to the emails of the panel organizers with a copy to the general congress coordination: with a copy to The abstracts should be accompanied by an inscription according to the form annexed to this announcement. Please complete and send this.

Panel abstracts, organizers and dates for registering

The details of the panels, organizers and registration can be found via the following links:

Directorate

General Coordination of the V Congress of RELAJU: María Teresa Sierra (CIESAS, Mexico)

Co-organizer: Héctor Ortiz Elizondo (Posgrado UAM-I, Mexico)

Members of the Organizing Committee : Victoria Chenaut (CIESAS), Laura Valladares (UAM-I.), Consuelo Sánchez (ENAH), Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo (CIESAS), Magdalena Gómez (UPN), Ana Hilda Ramírez (CDI), Elisa Cruz (SAIAC), Yuri Escalante (CDI), Teresa Valdivia (IIA-UNAM), Gisela González (FLACSO-México).

International Consultative Council of RELAJU: Rachel Sieder (ISA – University of London), Milka Castro (University of Chile), Esther Sánchez (Colombia), Fernando García (FLACSO-Ecuador), Máximo Bá Tiul (Guatemala), Raquel Yrigoyen (IIDS Peru), Bartolomé Clavero (University of Seville, Spain).

Contact for the general coordination of the V Congress: ,

For information about the congress programme see: /

Institutional home: CIESAS, Juárez 87, Tlalpan 14000, Mexico DF.

Tel: (52-55) 55739066 / 55739106

Sponsors: CIESAS, CONACYT, Ford Foundation, PUMC-UNAM, IIA-UNAM, IIJ-UNAM, UAM-I., UAM-X, ENAH, UPN, FLACSO-Mexico, CEMCA.

INICIO / HOME LIBROS/ BOOKSCURSOS/COURSESEVENTOS/EVENTSFORUM I, FORUM II

Info: