When: 15 January 2021 / 2-3.30 pm CET
Link: https://zoom.us/j/93210372616pwd=dTZZ…
ID: 93210372616
Password: 4JzWZ6
Abstract
This webinar will explore how to do an anthropology of corruption. The webinar will be organized in two parts that draw from my research on corruption and anti-corruption in Albania. The first part takes inspiration from Sally Merry’s recent work on indicators as technologies of governance and forms of knowledge (Merry, Davis and Kingsbury 2015; Rottenburg et al 2015) and my own participation in the research group on indicators that Merry co-led over many years. Based on my research on the making, circulation, and deployment of a corruption indicator in Albania (Musaraj 2015), I will reflect on how anthropologists can approach corruption (and other) indicators as an object of analysis. The second part takes inspiration from Sally Merry’s courtroom ethnography and her work on legal pluralism (Merry 1988). Drawing from my current research into the judicial reform in Albania, I will discuss ways in which courtroom ethnography can provide key insights on how the corruption or integrity of judges and prosecutors is assessed in the vetting process set up under the monitoring of the European Union. Taking up examples from these hearings, the webinar will discuss how courtroom ethnography can provide crucial insights into the legal pluralism present in these judicial reforms, in Albania and other contexts. Through these two examples, the webinar seeks to generate a discussion of the various methodological and analytical tools that ethnographers can apply to the study of corruption.
References Cited
Merry, Sally Engle, 1988. “Legal Pluralism.” Law & Society Review. Vol. 22, No. 5 (1988), pp. 869-896.
Merry, S.E., Davis, K.E. and Kingsbury, B. eds., 2015. The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption, and Rule of Law. Cambridge University Press.
Musaraj, S., 2015. “Indicators, Global Expertise, and a Local Political Drama.” In The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption, and Rule of Law. Cambridge University Press.
Rottenburg, R., Merry, S.E. and Park, S.J., Johanna Mugler, eds. 2015. The World of Indicators: The Making of Governmental Knowledge through Quantification. Cambridge University Press.
