Description: "As societies increasingly grapple with managing cultural diversity, one mechanism that is gaining ground is the use of cultural experts -most frequently anthropologists -to provide testimony about a defendant's cultural background. Much like forensic or ballistic analysis, this testimony enters the legal process as judicial evidence. Despite its widespread use in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Oceania, relatively little is known about how this cultural evidence is employed, and to what effect. This edited volume summarizes the current state of cultural evidence in six Latin American countries: Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, and lays out the challenges and dilemmas involved in the creation and use of cultural expert testimony"--
Brief description:
Leila Rodriguez is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. She is also an affiliate of the university's Department of Africana Studies, Department of Sociology, and Latin American Studies Program.
Review Quotes: A brilliant, nuanced guide to cultural expertise in Latin American civil law systems. Rodriguez and the contributors ask crucial questions about the state (mis)management of cultural diversity and access to justice across a continent where anthropological experts must transcend their roles in court cases to promote social transformation.
-- "Ellen Moodie, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"