Anthony Diala

2025-09-19 10:08:59

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

Professor of African legal pluralism and Director, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa, University of the Western Cape

Profile Articles Activity

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

2020–present Director, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa , University of the Western Cape
2024–present Professor of law, University of the Western Cape
2021–2023 Associate professor, University of the Western Cape
2018–2020 Senior lecturer, University of the Western Cape
2017–2018 Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Comparative Law in Africa, University of Cape Town
2014–2017 Sessional lecturer, University of Cape Town
2010–2014 Lecturer, Madonna University
2009–2009 Legal assistant, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court
2008–2008 Intern, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
2004–2006 Human rights programme officer, Justice, Development and Peace Initiative

Education

2016 University of Cape Town, Doctor of Philosophy in Law
2007 University of Pretoria, Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa
2007 Makerere University, Diploma in French
2004 Nigerian Law School, Abuja, Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice
2002 Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Bachelor of Laws (Hons.)

Publications

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
2024 Reimagining legal pluralism in Africa: Balancing Indigenous, State, and Religious Laws, Brill-Nijhoff
2024 The Rights of Women to the Inheritance of their Husbands' Estate in Nigeria, Journal of Law, Society and Development
2024 Promotion of service delivery in terms of South Africa's legal framework, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
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
2024 'Comparative indigenous law' in M. Siems and P.J. Yap (editors) Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Law, Cambridge University Press
2023 The tsetse fly perched on the scrotum: Publishing problems in academic journals, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
2022 Neoliberal influences on legal pluralist marriage reforms in Africa, Journal of International and Comparative Law
2021 Chained communities: A critique of South Africa's approach to land restitution, African Studies Quarterly
2021 Legal pluralism and the future of indigenous family laws in Africa, Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
2020 Rethinking customary law and women's property rights in the context of legal pluralism in Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
2020 Normative intersectionality in married women's property rights in southern Nigeria, Law, Democracy and Development
2020 Peacebuilding and the interface of state law and indigenous market laws in Southern Nigeria, Journal of African Law
2019 Introduction to special issue – The role of customary law in the shaping of new models of pluralistic states, Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado
2019 Curriculum decolonisation and revisionist pedagogy of African customary law, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
2019 A butterfly that thinks itself a bird: The identity of customary courts in Nigeria, Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
2019 Rethinking the interface between customary law and constitutionalism in sub-Saharan Africa, De Jure
2019 Our laws are better than yours: the future of legal pluralism in South Africa, Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado
2019 Courts and transformative constitutionalism: Insights from South Africa' in SM Sterett and L Walker (eds.) Research Handbook on Law and Courts , Edward Elgar Publishing
2018 A critique of the judicial attitude towards matrimonial property rights under customary law in Nigeria's southern states, African Human Rights Law Journal
2018 Legal 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
2018 Silences in marriage laws in Commonwealth Africa: Women's position in polygynous customary marriages, Speculum Juris
2018 The shadow of legal pluralism in matrimonial property division outside the courts in Southern Nigeria, African Human Rights Law Journal
2017 The protection of traditional cultural expressions in Africa: Book review, Journal of Comparative Law in Africa
2017 Child marriage, bridewealth, and legal pluralism in Africa, Journal of Comparative Law in Africa
2017 The concept of living customary law: A critique, Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
2015 Lessons from South Africa on reform of the customary law of inheritance in Nigeria, Diritto delle successioni e della famiglia
2014 Legal feasibility of a lawsuit against the United Nations, Madonna University Law Journal
2014 Reform of the customary law of inheritance in Nigeria: Lessons from South Africa, African Human Rights Law Journal
2013 The 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
2012 Realising the right to adequate housing in Nigeria, Madonna University Law Journal
2012 The Arab uprising: Implications for self-determination and good governance in the African Union, Pan African Yearbook of Law
2011 Victims' justice and re-characterising facts in the Lubanga trial at the ICC, Eyes on the ICC
2011 Lessons from South Africa in judicial power and minority protection, Madonna University Law Journal
2011 The 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

2022 Towards legal integration in sub-Saharan Africa Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany
2022 Adaptive legal pluralism in post-colonial states Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: Law and Society Association, USA
2021 Ascertaining the foundational values of indigenous laws in South Africa Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: National Research Foundation of Soth Africa
2018 Rethinking legal pluralism in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from South and West Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
2018 Rethinking normative interaction in sub-Saharan Africa Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: National Research Foundation of Soth Africa
2018 Hidden in plain sight: Normative intersectionality in Southern and Western Nigeria Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: American Council of Learned Societies
2017 Rethinking legal pluralism in post-colonial Africa: The indigenous laws of commercial contracts Role: Principal investigator Funding Source: University of Cape Town
2015 Recognition 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
2014 Somaliland customary law: An instrument for conflict prevention and peace building Role: Co-investigator Funding Source: National Research Foundation of Soth Africa

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