ABSTRACT
Social anthropology is associated with the study of human culture, understood in a broad way. It explores the unity and diversity of mankind, and does so from a resolutely empirical basis. Four mottos can be identified to be at the core of its research methods: establishing how the small ‘nitty-gritty’ stuff of social life connects with the ‘big picture’; paying attention to the gap between theory (what people say they do) and practice (what they actually do); highlighting power relationships and their framing and silencing effects; and not being content with a surface-level analysis but always seeking to dig deeper.
Anthropology is apt to study any aspect of social life – of which international courts are of course a part. ‘M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece’ was adopted by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in 2011. The case concerned the transfer of an asylum seeker by Belgium to Greece. In more sense than one, the judgment was extra-ordinary. However, it has now become regarded as a staple of European Convention on Human Rights jurisprudence. This raises legal questions which can be most interestingly addressed in a way that is informed by anthropological training, and thus, the four mottos identified above.
