The Mythology of Modern Law

Fitzpatrick, Peter

doi:10.4324/9780203162125

Cited by 102 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…This is consistent with the cases presented here. Peter Fitzpatrick (1992: x) has defended the idea that "modern law is a form of this white mythology. It shares origins and a sustaining dynamic with the general mythology of modernity and it is a key character in the mythology."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Justice and Its Margins

Neira¹

2014

Latin American Perspectives

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Analysis of two court cases involving indigenous migrants, one in Oaxaca and one inCalifornia, shows what justice means for these people, how the effects of the state are constructed, and what kind of relationships people establish with what we call the state and the justice system. Despite the differences between the two cases, the indigenous subjects involved ended up experiencing these situations in similar ways. They live on the margins of the state and are largely removed from the law as a procedure and justice as an ideal. El análisis de dos casos judiciales que involucran a los migrantes indígenas, uno enOaxaca y otro en California, muestra qué significa la justicia para estas personas, cómo se construyen los efectos del estado, y qué tipo de relaciones establecen las personas con lo que llamamos el estado y el sistema de justicia. A pesar de las diferencias entre los dos casos, los sujetos indígenas implicados terminaron sufriendo estas situaciones de manera similar. Viven en los márgenes del estado y lejos de la ley como procedimiento y la justicia como ideal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Justice and Its Margins

Neira¹

2014

Latin American Perspectives

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“…As a project, 'universal rationality' continues to be an exceptionally fl awed and incomplete political supposition (Asad, 1999(Asad, , 2006Brown, 1995;Chatterjee, 1993;Fitzpatrick, 1992;Mehta, 1990). While nonproperty owners, non-whites, non-Christians, women, and homosexuals have slowly been incorporated into the category of potential 'rational beings', contemporary liberalism has matured and expanded its boundaries in some but not all cases.…”

Section: Rationality and The Secular Subjectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Authoring (in)Authenticity, Regulating Religious Tolerance

Coleman

2008

Cultural Dynamics

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This article explores the politicization of 'conversion' discourses in contemporary India, focusing on the rising popularity of anti-conversion legislation at the individual state level. While 'Freedom of Religion' bills contend to represent the power of the Hindu nationalist cause, these pieces of legislation refl ect both the political mobility of Hindutva as a symbolic discourse and the practical limits of its enforcement value within Indian law. This resurgence, however, highlights the enduring nature of questions regarding the quality of 'conversion' as a 'right' of individuals and communities, as well as reigniting the ongoing battle over the line between 'conversion' and 'propagation'. Ultimately, I argue that, while the politics of conversion continue to represent a decisive point of reference in debates over the quality and substance of religious freedom as a discernible right of Indian democracy and citizenship, the widespread negative consequences of this legislation's enforcement remain to be seen. Moreover, the role of gender in these debates cannot be ignored; indeed, the politics of gender play a decisive role in the manner in which the anti-conversion debates have unfolded. Consequently, the gulf between the unsecular nature of the legislation in theory and its questionable impact in practice indicates that the project of Indian secularism is negotiating religious intolerance rather than succumbing fully to the politics of Hindutva. Key Wordsconversion gender Hindutva India secularism [C]onversion ranks among the most destabilizing activities in modern society, altering not only demographic patterns but also the characterization of belief as communally sanctioned assent to religious ideology. (Viswanathan, 1998: p. xvi)

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“…The establishment of laws was a priority within the colonial project, because it marked the colonized space as a civilized space and arranged hierarchies within that space. Postcolonial theorists of the law, such as Peter Fitzpatrick (1994) and Mindie Lazarus‐Black and Susan Hirsch (1994), locate much of the power of the colonial state in the patterning of behavior through carefully located incentives, often couched in the language of progress, modernity, and autonomy. Joan Vincent (1994, 119) points to “hegemonic moments” during which the symbolic resources and structures of an old order become subsumed into the processes and patterns of the new.…”

Section: Law Elites and The Colonial Statementioning

confidence: 99%

The Pursuit of the Perak Regalia: Islam, Law, and the Politics of Authority in the Colonial State

Hussin¹

2007

Law &Amp; Social Inquiry

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Islamic law changed radically in the last century and a half. It was codified and limited to the domain of personal and family law in almost all majority and minority Muslim states. The argument of this article is that this remarkable change in Islamic law began in the colonial state. Islamic law, as it functions within postcolonial Muslim states, is a product of negotiations between colonial and local elites over law, religion, culture, ethnicity, and the identity of the Muslim subject. In the case of colonial Malaya, this resulted in a codified, institutionalized legal system within a colonial state, which was critical in constructing Malay ethnic and religious identities and interpretations of Islam that prevail today.

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The Mythology of Modern Law

Cited by 102 publications

References 0 publications

Justice and Its Margins

Justice and Its Margins

Authoring (in)Authenticity, Regulating Religious Tolerance

The Pursuit of the Perak Regalia: Islam, Law, and the Politics of Authority in the Colonial State

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