Legal pluralism in Central Asia : The customization of state and religious law in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

In this chapter, I draw on a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in Northern Kyrgyzstan to illustrate the importance of the concept of legal pluralism for ethnographic analyses. The concept sensitizes us not only to the co-existence of different legal orders, but allows us to capture how actors creatively combine elements from different legal repertoires in a particular situation at hand. I particularly focus on what I call “customization”: the gradual incorporation on non-customary elements into customary law. My two case studies document the alignment of customary law (Kyrg. salt) with state law in Kyrygzstan’s courts of elders (aksakal courts), and the merging of custom with Islamic law (shariat) in a mosque setting.