- Professor of African legal pluralism, University of the Western Cape
Anthony C. Diala is an NRF-rated professor of African legal pluralism and the pioneer director of the Centre for Legal Integration in Africa at the University of the Western Cape. His work experience includes the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Justice and Peace Commission, Nigeria, and universities in Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Sweden, and South Africa. Among others, he is a fellow of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany, co-editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Legal Studies, and a Visiting Professor of Law and Society in the University of Turin, Italy, from 2022-2023. He has conducted multi-country field research on customary law and human rights with grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council of New York, the Nordic Africa Institute, and the South African National Research Foundation. He is a member of the Research Quality Plus College of Reviewers of Canada’s International Development Research Centre, the College of Senior Mentors of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, the Advisory Committee on Matrimonial Property of South Africa’s Law Reform Commission, and the editorial boards of the Journal of African Law and Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis. Diala holds a doctorate in socio-legal studies from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria.
Experience
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2020–presentDirector, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa , University of the Western Cape
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2024–presentProfessor of law, University of the Western Cape
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2021–2023Associate professor, University of the Western Cape
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2018–2020Senior lecturer, University of the Western Cape
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2017–2018Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Comparative Law in Africa, University of Cape Town
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2014–2017Sessional lecturer, University of Cape Town
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2010–2014Lecturer, Madonna University
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2009–2009Legal assistant, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court
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2008–2008Intern, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
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2004–2006Human rights programme officer, Justice, Development and Peace Initiative
Education
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2016University of Cape Town, Doctor of Philosophy in Law
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2007University of Pretoria, Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa
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2007Makerere University, Diploma in French
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2004Nigerian Law School, Abuja, Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice
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2002Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Bachelor of Laws (Hons.)
Publications
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2024‘An African perspective on family property and customary law’ in M. Briggs and A. Hayward (editors) Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law, Edward Elgar
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2024Reimagining legal pluralism in Africa: Balancing Indigenous, State, and Religious Laws, Brill-Nijhoff
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2024The Rights of Women to the Inheritance of their Husbands’ Estate in Nigeria, Journal of Law, Society and Development
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2024Promotion of service delivery in terms of South Africa’s legal framework, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
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2024‘Foreword: Law and sustainable development after Covid-19’ in A.E. Arimoro, E.M. Igbokwe and T.T. Egbe (editors) Law and Sustainable Development after Covid-19 , Routledge
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2024‘Comparative indigenous law’ in M. Siems and P.J. Yap (editors) Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Law, Cambridge University Press
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2023The tsetse fly perched on the scrotum: Publishing problems in academic journals, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
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2022Neoliberal influences on legal pluralist marriage reforms in Africa, Journal of International and Comparative Law
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2021Chained communities: A critique of South Africa’s approach to land restitution, African Studies Quarterly
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2021Legal pluralism and the future of indigenous family laws in Africa, Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
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2020Rethinking customary law and women’s property rights in the context of legal pluralism in Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
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2020Normative intersectionality in married women’s property rights in southern Nigeria, Law, Democracy and Development
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2020Peacebuilding and the interface of state law and indigenous market laws in Southern Nigeria, Journal of African Law
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2019Introduction to special issue – The role of customary law in the shaping of new models of pluralistic states, Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado
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2019Curriculum decolonisation and revisionist pedagogy of African customary law, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
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2019A butterfly that thinks itself a bird: The identity of customary courts in Nigeria, Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
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2019Rethinking the interface between customary law and constitutionalism in sub-Saharan Africa, De Jure
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2019Our laws are better than yours: the future of legal pluralism in South Africa, Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado
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2019Courts and transformative constitutionalism: Insights from South Africa’ in SM Sterett and L Walker (eds.) Research Handbook on Law and Courts , Edward Elgar Publishing
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2018A critique of the judicial attitude towards matrimonial property rights under customary law in Nigeria’s southern states, African Human Rights Law Journal
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2018Legal pluralism and social change: Insights from matrimonial property rights in Nigeria’ in C. Rautenbach (ed.) In the shade of an African Baobab: Tom Bennett's Legacy , JUTA
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2018Silences in marriage laws in Commonwealth Africa: Women’s position in polygynous customary marriages, Speculum Juris
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2018The shadow of legal pluralism in matrimonial property division outside the courts in Southern Nigeria, African Human Rights Law Journal
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2017The protection of traditional cultural expressions in Africa: Book review, Journal of Comparative Law in Africa
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2017Child marriage, bridewealth, and legal pluralism in Africa, Journal of Comparative Law in Africa
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2017The concept of living customary law: A critique, Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
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2015Lessons from South Africa on reform of the customary law of inheritance in Nigeria, Diritto delle successioni e della famiglia
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2014Legal feasibility of a lawsuit against the United Nations, Madonna University Law Journal
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2014Reform of the customary law of inheritance in Nigeria: Lessons from South Africa, African Human Rights Law Journal
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2013The dawn of constitutionalism in Nigeria;’ in Mbondenyi, M. K., and Ojienda T. (eds.) Constitutionalism and democratic governance in Africa: Contemporary perspectives from sub-Saharan Africa , Pretoria University Law Press
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2012Realising the right to adequate housing in Nigeria, Madonna University Law Journal
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2012The Arab uprising: Implications for self-determination and good governance in the African Union, Pan African Yearbook of Law
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2011Victims’ justice and re-characterising facts in the Lubanga trial at the ICC, Eyes on the ICC
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2011Lessons from South Africa in judicial power and minority protection, Madonna University Law Journal
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2011The strange child’ in J. Bassett (ed.) Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2: Songs from the soul: Stories from around the world, Oxford University Press
Grants and Contracts
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2022Towards legal integration in sub-Saharan Africa
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany
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2022Adaptive legal pluralism in post-colonial states
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- Law and Society Association, USA
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2021Ascertaining the foundational values of indigenous laws in South Africa
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- National Research Foundation of Soth Africa
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2018Rethinking legal pluralism in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from South and West
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
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2018Rethinking normative interaction in sub-Saharan Africa
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- National Research Foundation of Soth Africa
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2018Hidden in plain sight: Normative intersectionality in Southern and Western Nigeria
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- American Council of Learned Societies
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2017Rethinking legal pluralism in post-colonial Africa: The indigenous laws of commercial contracts
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- University of Cape Town
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2015Recognition of living customary law in Nigerian legal system: Women’s matrimonial property rights in south-east Nigeria
- Role:
- Principal investigator
- Funding Source:
- Social Science Research Council of New York
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2014Somaliland customary law: An instrument for conflict prevention and peace building
- Role:
- Co-investigator
- Funding Source:
- National Research Foundation of Soth Africa
Contact Anthony for
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Location: Cape Town, South Africa
- Website
- Article Feed
- ORCID
- Joined
