Around the world, scholars and politicians are engaged in a passionate debate concerning the universality of Human Rights. The problem of inequality between men and women concerning property rights is also part of this dispute. The transposition of human rights in another cultural context may create conflicts with new fundamental values. In a cultural context that differs from the western one, those rights don't always have their place or they may be reinterpreted accordingly with different cultural visions of what is a just society. / In order to get a better understanding of this problem, this research is proposing an analysis of the relation of Indian women with the courts regarding dowry death cases, especially in Maharashtra. The increasing number of those death cases are a contemporary manifestation of inequality. The apparition of this very Indian crime is linked with the augmentation of the frequency of the dowry practice despite the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961). Through the study of jurisprudence, ethnographies and some interviews conducted with Indian women living in Montreal, it is possible to identify factors influencing the relationship of women with respect to their rights and the Indian legal system. / The proposed study shows that case analysis, combined with other research techniques, is an essential tool for understanding the dynamics between laws and practices. All findings lead to the following conclusion: legal anthropology can bring light into the debate concerning the universality of Human rights.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20892 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Bates, Karine. |
| Contributors | Attwood, D. W. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001643331, proquestno: MQ47252, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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