CFP: “The Postcolonial Lives of Colonial Law in South Asia”

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Law and South Asian Studies has issued the following Call for Papers:

“The Postcolonial Lives of Colonial Law in South Asia”
Association of American Law Schools • Section on Law and South Asian Studies
Saturday, January 3, 2015 • Washington, DC

(Submission Deadline: August 15, 2014)

The Section on Law and South Asian Studies of the Association of American Law Schools invites papers for its session during the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, which is scheduled for January 3, 2015, at 3:30pm. We anticipate selecting one or two individuals from this call for papers to present their work during our Section’s program. Please note that faculty members presenting at the program are responsible for their own Annual Meeting registration fee and travel expenses.

The session theme is “The Postcolonial Lives of Colonial Law in South Asia.” As scholars across a range of disciplines have observed, the process of decolonization in South Asia has been long and uneven—in significant part due to the continuing legacy of laws and institutions inherited from the British colonial state. This program will examine the significance of these continuities between colonial and postcolonial laws and institutions in South Asia. To what extent, if any, was decolonization a moment of rupture? How and to what extent did colonial laws and legal institutions survive the formal end of colonial rule and how have postcolonial states in South Asia adopted and adapted them? And with what contemporary implications and consequences?

We invite papers exploring these questions with respect to one or more countries in South Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim, or Sri Lanka, or papers offering comparative perspectives, drawing from the postcolonial experiences of countries in other regions, that offer relevant insights into the experiences of these South Asian countries.

Publication: Papers from the session will be published in a 2015 symposium issue of the American University International Law Review.

Submission Guidelines: The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2014. We welcome submissions at any stage of development, although preference may be given to more fully developed papers over abstracts and paper proposals. Priority also will be given to individuals who commit to publish their papers in the symposium issue, to full-time faculty members and fellows at AALS member schools, and individuals who have not previously presented a paper on South Asia at the AALS Annual Meeting. Decisions will be made by mid-September 2014.

Please email submissions in Microsoft Word format to AALS-SouthAsiaCFP@kalhan.com. In your email, please indicate whether you have previously presented your work at the AALS Annual Meeting and confirm whether you are willing to commit to publish your paper, if selected, in the symposium issue. If you are not a full-time faculty member at a AALS member law school, please also include a CV with your submission.

Inquiries: Please direct any questions or inquiries to Anil Kalhan (anil.kalhan@aya.yale.edu).