Legal pluralism as co-presence

Disobeying the hierarchies of the western canon

Bibliographic Data

ID21982017
AuthorsSara Araújo (0000-0003-1914-4074, University of Coimbra, corresponding author)
Year2024
Publication date2024-06-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOñati Socio-legal Series (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2079-5971 • E-ISSN: 2079-5971
PublisherOnati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.35295/osls.iisl.1931
OpenAlexW4399630610
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited28

This paper aims to offer a contribution for the debate on how to decolonize sociolegal thinking by discussing possibilities of decolonizing legal pluralism. Avoiding the endless debate about what is law, and focused on the need to disobey modern epistemological hierarchies, I use a cartographic metaphor – law as map - to argue that legal centralism is not only a fiction, but a Eurocentric instrument that limits political imagination. Law, in its plurality, is an indicator of the world’s possibilities. Legal pluralism must be more than a marginal field, but a core instrument to expand legal and political possibilities. After addressing the role of modern law as an instrument that legitimizes capitalism, I claim that we need to move ahead from modern dichotomies that fail to decolonize science. Finally, using notes from fieldwork in East-Timor and Mozambique, I reflect as a feminist woman on how to learn from unfamiliar legal maps

Capitalism · Dichotomy · Epistemology · Legal pluralism · Legal profession · Legal realism · Metaphor · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Land Rights and Reforms · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Legal Issues in South Africa · Philosophy

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