On the Social Contract with Nature: A Perspective From the Anthropology of Property and Law
A Talk by Nebi Bardhoshi
25.04.2024 16:00 – 18:00
Location: Rachel Carson Center, fourth floor, Conference Room, Leopoldstr. 11a, 80802 Munich, Germany
Is it possible to have a democratic and ecological pact about and with nature, and can local knowledge serve in this regard? To answer these questions, this talk will examine the historical and contemporary relationship between the state, village, and common village property in Albania. The first part of the talk will be an analysis of different perspectives on the possibility of establishing a new social pact with nature contextualizing the theoretical debate related to the “existential condition” and the modern state. In the second part of the talk, Bardhoshi will discuss traditional village legal culture, the characteristics of legal pluralism, and the confrontation between customary law and the modern state specifically focusing on common property. The analysis will concentrate on how the modern state treated common village property as “res nullius,” i.e., things belonging to no one, and the consequences this status of commons had for traditional communities. In the third part, he will discuss contemporary privatization policies regarding common property and “protected areas” as well as the reactions from local residents and environmental activists’ networks. Finally, the question will be revisited of whether there is any potential for local knowledge and legal culture to be rearticulated in formulating a community pact with nature while respecting democratic values.