ABSTRACT
Much of the essential thrust of my argument in this book is the need to reassess the manner in which western power and western law has ridden roughshod over the rights and dignity, the culture and customs, of indigenous people in all parts of the world. The ideas of multi-culturalism and of legal pluralism offer hope for a new agenda in which dispossessed tribal communities may regain some of what has been lost. In my description of various aspects of customary law, I have often been selective in my choice of examples (taken from a far larger pool of accumulated data), tending to stress the positive aspects, yet I have also not hesitated to deal with the problematics involved in some customary practices. At times I have contrasted these disturbing features with similar manifestations in western law, in the belief that such a comparative perspective is essential in order to ensure, at the least, a minimum degree of objectivity and, perhaps beyond that, the capacity for empathetic understanding of customs that may seem strange, or for relevant appraisals of practices that seem manifestly harmful by what may be considered universalistic standards.
