Mareike Riedel

C.V. | Publications

Research Interests
Law and religion, feminist legal studies, legal doctrine and legal language, Jewish law, law and identity, multiculturalism, human rights, citizenship, critical legal studies

Research Area(s)
Europe, especially Germany and the United Kingdom, Australia

Links
Völkerrechtsblog

Profile

Mareike Riedel studied in Lyon, Jerusalem and Leipzig, and holds both a law degree and a Magister Artium (equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Linguistics, Literature and Journalism from the University of Leipzig. In her studies she focused on legal history, legal language, law and the arts, and interdisciplinary research in law. She has worked for the German mission to the United Nations in New York, for a green political foundation in Berlin and for a think tank in Israel. In her master’s thesis she analysed the tensions between fictional speech, freedom of the arts and the protection of personal rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. She is proud to be a member of the editorial team of Völkerrechtsblog, a blog for and by young scholars in public international law.

During her several stays in Jerusalem she became interested in the relationship between state law and Judaism and in processes of identity formation in law. In her doctoral research she explores law’s promise of neutrality as it is experienced by Jewish communities in two liberal democracies, Germany and Australia. Through the lens of two case studies she will assess how the ‘legal norm’ in categories such as ‘religion’, ‘body’ and ‘public space’ is constructed, both in the literature and in practice, in conflicts between the majority society and a religious minority. A special emphasis will be placed on law’s role in the construction of cultural identity and difference. This raises the question of the extent to which unstated assumptions about the ‘legal norm’ hinder law’s ability to protect religious freedom for minorities within a diverse religious landscape and enforce the dominant view of what ought to be protected. This then leads to the question, What procedural safeguards can be put into place to minimize bias and prejudice in the legal system and come closer to fulfilling law’s promise of neutrality?

Why Law and Anthropology?

"Having examined debates over male circumcision and the establishment of Eruvin (Jewish ritual structures) in urban spaces,  I have come to believe that law and legal conflicts cannot be understood outside of their cultural contexts. Anthropology provides the researcher with the tools necessary to uncover the complex games of identity that are played in the arena of law and introduces a sensitivity to the experiences of religious minorities and their interaction with a dominant vision of state law."