Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Sociolegal Dynamics of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Marginalized Communities

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This research examines the role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms within minority communities. This research specifically investigates diverse alternative judicial bodies with different legal and cultural outlooks why and how people use these extralegal systems, and how these judicial bodies are regulated by and interact with the state. In addition to supporting the training of a doctoral student, the proposal will be shared with legal practitioners, civil society organizations, and community activists working in alternative dispute resolution. This research examines the factors that lead people who use alternative justice bodies to view the decisions made by those bodies as binding and the cultural and legal dynamics that give these alternative judicial bodies their legitimacy, through a controlled analysis and comparison of two significant different sociolegal contexts. Broader questions are also asked about social and cultural network formation, and whether these vary between different minority communities. Ethnographic methods for this research include participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to explore why people turn to alternative judicial bodies, how these bodies and the state interact, and how different marginalized groups, such as women and refugees, use these alternative channels to navigate the dynamics of gender, justice, and the state. By investigating how minority groups negotiate alternative ways of seeking justice in their daily lives, this project contributes to the anthropology of law, anthropology of the state, and anthropology of gender and religion. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.