Gender, Justice, and the Problem of Culture: From Customary Law to Human Rights in Tanzania
Dorothy L. Hodgson
When, where, why, and by whom is law used to force desired social change in the name of justice? Why has culture come to be seen as inherently oppressive to women? In this finely crafted book, Dorothy L. Hodgson examines the history of legal ideas and institutions in Tanzania – from customary law to human rights – as specific forms of justice that often reflect elite ideas about gender, culture, and social change. Drawing on evidence from Maasai communities, she explores how the legacies of colonial law-making continue to influence contemporary efforts to create laws, codify marriage, criminalize FGM, and contest land grabs by state officials. Despite the easy dismissal by elites of the priorities and perspectives of grassroots women, she shows how Maasai women have always had powerful ways to confront and challenge injustice, express their priorities, and reveal the limits of rights-based legal ideals.
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About Dorothy L. Hodgson
Reviews for Gender, Justice, and the Problem of Culture: From Customary Law to Human Rights in Tanzania
African Studies Review
Gender, Justice, and the Problem of Culture makes a significant contribution to the study of law in East Africa and elsewhere among colonized peoples, and it should be required reading not only for academics interested in such matters but for activists and policymakers.
American Anthropologist
Hodgson's book is both rich in detail and broad in its implications for understanding struggles for justice for marginalised groups. It deserves the attention of students and scholars of African studies, anthropology, history, political science and women's and gender studies.
Journal of Modern African Studies
[T]this book [is] an excellent addition to scholarship and courses on gender, human rights, legal anthropology, critical development studies, and more.
American Ethnologist