Anthony C. Diala is a professor of African legal pluralism and foundation director of the Centre for Legal Integration in Africa at the University of the Western Cape. His work experience across twenty countries 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. He is a visiting professor of law and society in the University of Turin, Italy, a fellow of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany, and co-editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Legal Studies. He has conducted multi-country field research on customary law and human rights with grants from the Nordic Africa Institute, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council of New York, and the South African National Research Foundation. Among others, 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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2021–presentAssociate professor, University of the Western Cape
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2020–presentDirector, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa , 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, Nigeria
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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, Nigeria
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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2021Legal pluralism and the future of indigenous family laws in Africa, Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
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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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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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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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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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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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2018The shadow of legal pluralism in matrimonial property division outside the courts in Southern Nigeria, African Human Rights Law Journal
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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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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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2014Reform of the customary law of inheritance in Nigeria: Lessons from South Africa, African Human Rights Law Journal
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2014Legal feasibility of a lawsuit against the United Nations, Madonna University 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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2012The Arab uprising: Implications for self-determination and good governance in the African Union, Pan African Yearbook of Law
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2012Realising the right to adequate housing in Nigeria, Madonna University Law Journal
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2011Lessons from South Africa in judicial power and minority protection, Madonna University Law Journal
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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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2011The strange child’ in J. Bassett (ed.) Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2: Songs from the soul: Stories from around the world, Oxford University Press
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Website
- Article Feed
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For media enquiries,
adiala@uwc.ac.za - ORCID
- Joined
