Understanding Disputes The Politics of Argument

Are disputes ever really resolved, or do people need to find ways of accommodating them and living with the consequences? Can dispute settlement procedures at the local level be transferred to wider environments? In attempting to answer these questions, some of the foremost specialists in the anthropology of law and disputing behaviour examine how people in a variety of social settings, ranging from Ireland to East Africa, deal with quarrels and seek to resolve or accommodate them. This stimulating volume should be of interest to anyone concerned about the increase in conflict in many parts of the world.

Contents: P. Caplan, Introduction: Anthropology and the Study of Disputes - S. F. Moore, Imperfect Communications - L. Nader, Civilization and its Negotiations - E. Colson, The Contentiousness of Disputes - C. Johnson, Gentlemanly Values: Contesting Corruption Accusations in the Cities of London and Lagos in the Mid-1950s - M. Silverman, The 'Inhabitants' vs the 'Sovereign': A Historical Ethnography of the Making of the 'Middle Class' in an Irish Corporate Borough, 1840-1 - L. Caplan, The Milieu of Disputation: Managing Quarrels in East Nepal - D. Parkin, Disputing Human Passion: The Negotiation of the Meaning of Love among the Giriama of Kenya - S. Gaetz, 'Youth Development': Conflict and Negotiations in an Urban Irish Youth Club - P. Caplan, 'Law' and 'Custom': Marital Disputes on Northern Mafia Island, Tanzania - A. Southall, Courts of Death Among the Alur of Uganda

Pat Caplan Goldsmiths College,University of London Gino Bedani Professor and Head of Italian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University College of Swansea