LSA DIDACTIC WORKSHOPS, JUNE 4, 2003

 

WORKSHOP 1

THE COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE OF ISLAMIC LAW

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Instructor:  Lawrence Rosen

 

With nearly one in five people on the planet attached in some fashion to Islamic law, the study of this subject is not merely relevant to the political issues of the moment, but also to an understanding of how a distinctive set of legal precepts has spread across an extraordinary range of local cultures. The purpose of this workshop is, therefore, twofold: For those who are doing research in Islamic cultures, we will discuss in some detail the role that legal studies can play in such analyses; and for those who wish to draw on Islam as a comparative example in writing and teaching, we will explore some of the broad issues for which Islamic systems may provide useful insights and evidence.

 

Among the topics that we will address are the relation between textual and local approaches to law, the place of Islamic law in the broader scheme of particular Islamic cultures, the challenges that Islamic law poses to theoretical claims in law and the social sciences, and the ongoing changes in Islamic law to which researchers and students may wish to attend. More practically, we will consider how one might go about studying Islamic law in various settings – in courts, in documents, and in the realm of social and cultural life more generally. We will discuss everything from the appropriate background preparation for such studies, to the advantages of gaining access to legal institutions even when one is not attempting to become a specialist in Islamic law.

 

The workshop will be organized as a combination of brief introductions by the instructor, discussions of issues that arise in our different disciplines to which the Islamic law example can speak, and examinations of how participants’ particular projects exemplify the theoretical and practical challenges involved in this field of study.

 

Instructor Profile:

 

Lawrence Rosen is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. The holder of Ph.D. and J.D. degrees from the University of Chicago, he has worked for over thirty years in the Islamic law courts of Morocco, with comparative excursions to the courts of Tunisia and Malaysia. Named to the first group of MacArthur Award recipients he has held grants from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, NSF, and SSRC. He has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, a visiting professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, and Georgetown, and a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the American Bar Foundation. He has served as a Phi Beta Kappa Lecturer and has received Princeton’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Among his books are The Anthropology of Justice, The Justice of Islam, The Culture of Islam, and two edited volumes, The American Indian and the Law, and Other Intentions.

 

WORKSHOP 2: 

USING QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE IN LAW & SOCIETY RESEARCH

9:30 am – 3:30 pm

Instructors:  Sharlene Hess-Biber, Raymond Maietta,

Alfonso Morales, and Laura Beth Nielsen

 

This four-hour seminar will explore the major uses for qualitative data analysis software and will review recent developments and applications.  The seminar will begin with a general overview of how qualitative data analysis software affects the research process.  Building on this background, we will then compare and contrast the major packages currently on the market: ATLAS.ti, ETHNOGRAPH, HyperResearch, and the QSR products N6 and NVIVO.  Participants will leave with a thorough checklist of items to consider, as they make the transition to computer-aided analysis of qualitative data.

 

The session will be run seminar style, with active involvement of the attendees. Examples from participants’ current projects will shape the discussion of effective ways to integrate computer assistance into a qualitative investigation.  No prior experience with qualitative analysis or software is assumed for this session.

 

At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

Instructor profiles:

 

Sharlene Hesse-Biber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College, where she co-founded the Women's Studies Program. She is co-developer of HyperRESEARCH, a qualitative data analysis software package, and she is co-author (with Raymond Maietta) of a forthcoming Sage monograph on Qualitative Software Programs (Sage Publications, 2005).  Her other methodological writings include Approaches to Qualitative Research and Feminist Perspectives on Social Research (both forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2004).  Among her many research publications are the books Am I Thin Enough Yet? The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity ( Oxford University Press, 1996) and (with Gregg Carter) Working Women in America: Split Dreams (Oxford University Press, 2000). She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. 

 

Raymond Maietta is president of ResearchTalk Inc., a qualitative research consulting company in Bohemia, New York.  His research interests are in the areas of personal relationships and issues of life satisfaction.  A Ph.D. sociologist, Ray’s interests in the art of qualitative research motivated him to start ResearchTalk in 1996.  ResearchTalk Inc. provides advice on all phases of qualitative analysis to university, government, not-for-profit and corporate researchers.  Ray’s work with ResearchTalk clients informs a recent co-authored publication, “Systematic Procedures of Inquiry and Computer Data Analysis Software for Qualitative Research,” which appears in the current edition of the Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement.

 

Alfonso Morales is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at El Paso.  His research uses qualitative methods to examine the social and legal context of economic activities. Currently, he is writing a book about street vendors and is developing an interest in the legal profession in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexican border.  In 1999, he led the UTEP team that evaluated qualitative software and made purchases for the university.  He has also taught graduate courses in qualitative methods and has led various graduate student qualitative methods training seminars.

 

Laura Beth Nielsen is a Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation and Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University. She also serves as a Co-Editor of Law & Social Inquiry.  Her primary research employs qualitative methods to study the dynamics of legal consciousness, both within traditionally disadvantaged group and within professional elites.  Her recent publications include, "Situating Legal Consciousness: Experiences and Attitudes of Ordinary Citizens About Law and Street Harassment" (Law & Society Review, 2000) and (with Robert Nelson) "Cops, Counsel and Entrepreneurs: Constructing the Role of Inside Counsel in Large Corporations" (Law & Society Review, 2000). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California - Berkeley's Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and a J.D. from UC-B’s Boalt Hall School of Law.