ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates the connection between legal consciousness and the terrain of legality. Legal consciousness is a complex concept with various interpretations; thus, this chapter outlines the definition that will be used throughout the book, including important constituent parts: Knowledge, perceptions, judgements, worldview, and ideology. Notably, in the context of eastern DRC, popular legal consciousness reflects the encounter between localized beliefs and practices and international liberal legalism and the associated legal reforms and interventions. This chapter outlines two major themes of contradictory legal consciousness: A disconnect in harm naming and different logics of justice. These themes are elaborated on in this chapter and then employed as part of my analysis in the subsequent chapters. Finally, the concept emergent hybrid legality is explained as the outcome of theorizing the effects of legal encounters on legal consciousness and the different institutions and patterns of practice that are formed.
