Research Interests
Right to education, freedom of religion, human rights law, cultural diversity, minority rights, law and anthropology
Research Area(s)
Spain
Profile
David Katz is a PhD Candidate in the Law & Anthropology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. He holds a bachelor’s degree in social and cultural anthropology from the University of Barcelona (Spain), and was awarded the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization by the European Inter University Centre in Venice (Italy), for which he spent a semester at the UNESCO Chair on Education for Human Rights, Democracy and Peace at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). In his master’s thesis, “Deconstructing the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Human Rights: A Multidisciplinary Approach on Antisemitism towards the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki”, he analysed the right to freedom of religion and belief and the correlation between the inherent antisemitism in some spheres of Greek society and the limits on the enjoyment of religious rights by the Jewish community of Thessaloniki. His current research falls within the project “Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe” (CUREDI).
Why Law and Anthropology?
I believe that law and anthropology is the perfect combination for providing a better understanding of the different spheres of law and policymaking. On the one hand, having a legal perspective gives one the knowledge and ability to analyse and comprehend legal theory. On the other hand, anthropology can provide a more nuanced understanding of the different legal domains and the applicability of law in the lived reality of individuals. Working at the intersection of the two disciplines, where legal structure encounters social occurrences, challenges the traditional perspective of legal theory, promotes a better contextualization of a society's social, economic, and political life, and allows one to fully understand the social and cultural interdependencies of humankind.