ABSTRACT

Cultural Expertise and Litigation addresses the role of social scientists as a source of expert evidence, and is a product of their experiences and observations of cases involving litigants of South Asian origin. What is meant in court by "culture," "custom" and "law"? How are these concepts understood by witnesses, advocates, judges and litigants? How far are cross-cultural understandings facilitated - or obscured - in the process? What strategies are adopted? And which ones turn out to be successful in court? How is cultural understanding – and misunderstanding – produced in these circumstances? And how, moreover, do the decisions in these cases not only reflect, but impact, upon the law and the legal procedure? Cultural Expertise and Litigation addresses these questions, as it elicits the patterns, conflicts and narratives that characterize the legal role of social scientists in a variety of de facto plural settings – including immigration and asylum law, family law, citizenship law and criminal law.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

Reflexivity, Culture and Ethics

part |78 pages

Conflicts

chapter |21 pages

Being on and Being in

Exposure and Influence of Academic Experts in Contemporary Denmark

part |63 pages

Narratives

chapter |21 pages

Life and Law

Advocacy and Expert Witnessing in the UK

chapter |23 pages

The Case of S

Elaborating the ‘Right' Narrative to Fit Normative/Political Expectations in Asylum Procedure in Italy

chapter |17 pages

Expert Report Writing

Professional Commitments and Legal Outcomes