Welcome to CSLS
For over fifty years the Oxford Centre has been at the forefront of research into the nature and role of law in society. Our researchers study law as a historical and culturally specific mode of social organisation that takes a variety of forms within and across societies. Our expert staff bring together a wide variety of disciplinary expertise, including law, sociology, anthropology, politics, international relations, human rights, economics, geography and art history, to examine the interface of law and society.
Explore Our Work
Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies Blog
In this week's Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies, Aniq Jiwani discusses the perils of technofeudalism and the changing nature of ownership in digital spaces. Read the full article here, which is published as part of the blog's Borderlands section. If you would like to receive a summary of all of Frontiers’ latest posts, please sign up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter here.
Professor Hakeem Yusuf reviews Alice Panepinto’s book, Truth and Transitional Justice: Localising the International Legal Framework in Muslim Majority Legal Systems (Hart, 2022). Read the full article here, which is published as part of the blog's A Good Read section. If you would like to receive a summary of all of Frontiers’ latest posts, please sign up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter here.
Professor Linda Mulcahy talks to Professor Carolyn McKay about her work on criminal justice technologies and the challenges of conducting fieldwork inside institutions, like prisons, that are deliberately hard to access. Listen to the full episode, which is published as part of the blog's Talking about Methods podcast. If you would like to receive a summary of all of Frontiers’ latest posts, please sign up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter.
Our Graduate Students
"I set out to do an ethnography among Adivasi (tribes/indigenous communities) groups in the South Gujarat region of India. I wanted to understand the evolution of customary norms relating to kinship, land, and forests. Over the course of my fieldwork, I began to learn that the narratives framed around the past provide crucial groundwork towards an ethnography of the present.
-Aastha Prasad
