Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court
by Justin B. Richland
University of Chicago Press, 2008 Paper: 978-0-226-71295-6 | Cloth: 978-0-226-71293-2 | eISBN: 978-0-226-71296-3 Library of Congress Classification KF8228.H67R53 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 346.73013
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Arguing with Tradition is the first book to explore language and interaction within a contemporary Native American legal system. Grounded in Justin Richland’s extensive field research on the Hopi Indian Nation of northeastern Arizona—on whose appellate court he now serves as Justice Pro Tempore—this innovative work explains how Hopi notions of tradition and culture shape and are shaped by the processes of Hopi jurisprudence.
Like many indigenous legal institutions across North America, the Hopi Tribal Court was created in the image of Anglo-American-style law. But Richland shows that in recent years, Hopi jurists and litigants have called for their courts to develop a jurisprudence that better reflects Hopi culture and traditions. Providing unprecedented insights into the Hopi and English courtroom interactions through which this conflict plays out, Richland argues that tensions between the language of Anglo-style law and Hopi tradition both drive Hopi jurisprudence and make it unique. Ultimately, Richland’s analyses of the language of Hopi law offer a fresh approach to the cultural politics that influence indigenous legal and governmental practices worldwide.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Justin B. Richland is associate professor of anthropology and the social sciences in the College at the University of Chicago.
REVIEWS
"[Richland] is committed to the basic idea that social realities are created in and through the process of face-to-face interaction. At the same time, he also draws on recent developments in linguistic anthropological analysis of language ideologies and semiotics in ways that alter our perspectives on legal discourse. . . . This is a terrific book. it is accessible to undergraduate and advanced scholar alike. And it can be used to adress a wide range of issues in sociolinguistic and anthropological scholarship in both teaching and research."
— Language in Society
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Arguing with Tradition in Native America
The Ironies of Indigeneity
Native American Tribal Law and Tradition
“Anglo” Law in Indian Country: Courts of Indian Offenses
Tribal Courts Today: At the Edge of Tribal Sovereignty
The Dearth of Ethnographies of Tribal Courts
The Approach and Aims of This Study
An Outline of This Study
2 Making a Hopi Nation: “Anglo” Law Comes to Hopi Country
Hopi Tribal Governance
Hopi Village Organization and Governance
Court Comes to Hopi Country
The Hopi Tribal Court Today
Data and Methodologies: Talking Tradition in Hopi Property Disputes
3 “What are you going to do with the village’s knowledge?” Language Ideologies and Legal Power in Hopi Tribal Court
Legal Discourse Analysis and Legal Power
Language Ideologies, Metadiscourse, and Metapragmatics
Talking Tradition, Talking Law in Hopi Courtroom Interactions
The Language Ideologies of Anglo-American Law versus Hopi Traditional Authority
Conclusion
4 “He could not speak Hopi. . . . That puzzle— puzzled me”: The Pragmatic Paradoxes of Hopi Tradition in Court
Paradox in the Pragmatics of Language and Law
Discourses of Cultural Difference in Hopi Court
Iterations of Indigeneity in a Hopi Court Hearing
Conclusion
5 Suffering into Truth: Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction
Legal Narrativity in and out of Court
A Model of Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction
The Significance of Settings: Judicial Openings of Hopi Courtroom Narrative
The Contested Narrativity of a Hopi Property Proceeding
Conclusion
6 Conclusion: Arguments with Tradition
Tradition, Culture, and the Politics of Authenticity
Arguing with Tradition
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court
by Justin B. Richland
University of Chicago Press, 2008 Paper: 978-0-226-71295-6 Cloth: 978-0-226-71293-2 eISBN: 978-0-226-71296-3
Arguing with Tradition is the first book to explore language and interaction within a contemporary Native American legal system. Grounded in Justin Richland’s extensive field research on the Hopi Indian Nation of northeastern Arizona—on whose appellate court he now serves as Justice Pro Tempore—this innovative work explains how Hopi notions of tradition and culture shape and are shaped by the processes of Hopi jurisprudence.
Like many indigenous legal institutions across North America, the Hopi Tribal Court was created in the image of Anglo-American-style law. But Richland shows that in recent years, Hopi jurists and litigants have called for their courts to develop a jurisprudence that better reflects Hopi culture and traditions. Providing unprecedented insights into the Hopi and English courtroom interactions through which this conflict plays out, Richland argues that tensions between the language of Anglo-style law and Hopi tradition both drive Hopi jurisprudence and make it unique. Ultimately, Richland’s analyses of the language of Hopi law offer a fresh approach to the cultural politics that influence indigenous legal and governmental practices worldwide.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Justin B. Richland is associate professor of anthropology and the social sciences in the College at the University of Chicago.
REVIEWS
"[Richland] is committed to the basic idea that social realities are created in and through the process of face-to-face interaction. At the same time, he also draws on recent developments in linguistic anthropological analysis of language ideologies and semiotics in ways that alter our perspectives on legal discourse. . . . This is a terrific book. it is accessible to undergraduate and advanced scholar alike. And it can be used to adress a wide range of issues in sociolinguistic and anthropological scholarship in both teaching and research."
— Language in Society
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Arguing with Tradition in Native America
The Ironies of Indigeneity
Native American Tribal Law and Tradition
“Anglo” Law in Indian Country: Courts of Indian Offenses
Tribal Courts Today: At the Edge of Tribal Sovereignty
The Dearth of Ethnographies of Tribal Courts
The Approach and Aims of This Study
An Outline of This Study
2 Making a Hopi Nation: “Anglo” Law Comes to Hopi Country
Hopi Tribal Governance
Hopi Village Organization and Governance
Court Comes to Hopi Country
The Hopi Tribal Court Today
Data and Methodologies: Talking Tradition in Hopi Property Disputes
3 “What are you going to do with the village’s knowledge?” Language Ideologies and Legal Power in Hopi Tribal Court
Legal Discourse Analysis and Legal Power
Language Ideologies, Metadiscourse, and Metapragmatics
Talking Tradition, Talking Law in Hopi Courtroom Interactions
The Language Ideologies of Anglo-American Law versus Hopi Traditional Authority
Conclusion
4 “He could not speak Hopi. . . . That puzzle— puzzled me”: The Pragmatic Paradoxes of Hopi Tradition in Court
Paradox in the Pragmatics of Language and Law
Discourses of Cultural Difference in Hopi Court
Iterations of Indigeneity in a Hopi Court Hearing
Conclusion
5 Suffering into Truth: Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction
Legal Narrativity in and out of Court
A Model of Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction
The Significance of Settings: Judicial Openings of Hopi Courtroom Narrative
The Contested Narrativity of a Hopi Property Proceeding
Conclusion
6 Conclusion: Arguments with Tradition
Tradition, Culture, and the Politics of Authenticity
Arguing with Tradition
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE