Reati culturalmente motivati in Brasile: il caso di stupro-non stupro presso gli indios Guaranì (con riflessioni sui matrimoni precoci Rom)

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Il caso - 3. L’iter processuale e gli argomenti. Materialità del fatto ed ermeneutica antropologica - 4. Un nuovo tassello nella cultural expertise: lo strumento della “audizione etnica” (escuta étnica) - 5. Il pluralismo giuridico dialogico e l’affidamento della sanzione alla comunità guaranì - 6. Il ruolo del giudice di fronte a pratiche culturali patriarcali - 7. Dal Brasile all’Europa: spunti di riflessione sui rapporti sessuali di infra-quattordicenni nel matrimonio rom e nella cultura italiana. Culturally motivated crimes in Brazil: the case of rape/non-rape among the Guaranì Indians (with remarks on Roma early marriages) * ABSTRACT: This article describes a culturally motivated crime that came to the attention of a Brazilian court: sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of fourteen in a Guaranì group, indios from the Mata Atlantica. The judge acquitted the accused taking into account the fact that in the Guaranì society a woman becomes an adult with menarche and that sexual initiation is widespread in this culture. The accused had violated the protocol of this initiation, for which he will be sanctioned according to the norms of Guaranì law. The Brazilian case allows for a series of observations on the debate on Roma early marriages that is taking place in Europe, and on the different treatment between sex acts in this context and sex acts between minors under fourteen years old and other teenagers in the majority cultures of Europe

Referendum e secessione. L’appello al popolo per l’indipendenza in Scozia e in Catalogna

Il presente contributo offre una sintetica ricostruzione della teoria e della pratica della secessione nel costituzionalismo proponendone un'evoluzione trifasica - da istituto politico eversivo, a diritto rimediale, a norma giuridica compatibile con la democrazia - per poi ripercorrere alcune recenti pratiche secessioniste occorse in Stati democratici: i referendum scozzese e catalano per l'indipendenza. Negoziato e condiviso con lo Stato il primo, fortemente avversato dal centro il secondo; procedimentalizzato in tutti i dettagli da leggi statali e regionali il primo, svoltosi tra incertezze procedurali e scontri rimessi al Tribunale costituzionale il secondo, i due appelli al popolo, anche per l'impatto che hanno avuto in altre regioni europee, hanno riportato all'attenzione l'ormai classico dibattito sulla secessione riaprendo le seguenti questioni: la secessione è un diritto dei popoli la cui nazione non coincide con la cittadinanza? E' possibile parlare di una secessione democratica e a che condizioni? Come identificare chi decide sulla secessione? E' democratica una secessione unilaterale? Dopo aver descritto i fatti (e gli antefatti), le differenze e analogie tra i referendum scozzese e catalano e il loro impatto in Italia, il lavoro si conclude enucleando le condizioni affinché una "secessione" possa essere "democratica". [abstract tratto dalla rivista]This paper provides an overview of the theory and practice of secession in constitutionalism. It suggests a three-phase evolution of the concept, which was conceived at first as a revolutionary political event, then as a remedial right, and finally as a juridical procedure compatible with democracy. The paper focuses on recent secessionist processes: the Scottish and Catalan referendums, which differ in many respects. The Scottish referendum was negotiated with the central State, and governed in every single detail, whereas the Catalan one was strongly opposed by the central power, and eventually prohibited by the Spanish Constitutional Court. These opposite cases drew the scholars’ and policy-makers’ attention to the classic constitutional debate on secession and on the following questions in particular: is secession a right of the peoples whose nation-feeling and citizenship do not coincide? Can secession be democratic, and under what conditions? How can we identify who is entitled to decide whether or not there should be secession? Can a unilateral secession be deemed to be democratic? After describing the facts, analogies and differences between the Scottish and the Catalan referendums and their impact on Italian regions, the paper looks into the conditions for a "democratic" secession. [Abstract appeared in the Journal

Interpreting Culture in Italian Courts: A Proposal of a "Cultural Test"

Through a series of analyses of relevant cases - such as Roma begging, genital alterations, and honor killings - this article intends to show the multiple ways in which Italian judges use, and sometimes misuse, the concept of culture. Placing Italy in the broader context of Western democracies, these analyses show the need for more certain standards to fairly assess cultural differences. The aim of this article is to suggest a legal tool to be used by judges when facing multicultural conflicts: a test consisting of a sequence of pre-established reflective questions every judge should answer when legal claims involving cultural rights are at stake. The cultural test proposed here is inspired by similar tests existing on a comparative level, and aims to offer judges a guide so as to avoid the erratic reasoning on cultural matters sometimes deployed in Italian courts

A Legal and Anthropological Analysis of the Cultural Defense Concerning Fathers who Kissed and Touched Their Sons’ Genitals: Sexual Abuse or “Homage to the Penis of the Child”?

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction. – Part I. Legal analysis. – 2. Kissing and touching a child’s penis as sexual abuse. – 2.1. The Italian case law concerning an Albanian immigrant father. – 2.2. The German case law concerning a Bulgarian immigrant father. – 2.3. The United States case law concerning an Afghan immigrant father. – Part II. Anthropological analysis. – 3. Kissing and touching a child’s penis as a cultural practice – 3.1. The “homage to the penis” practice. Definition of the term and scope of application. – 3.2. Physical, emotional, verbal and visual expressions of the “homage to the penis”. – 3.3. Actors, forms and meanings of “homage to the penis” practices. – 4. A brief history of the “homage to the penis” practices in Europe. – 4.1. The ostentatio genitalium in Renaissance art. – 4.2. From “indifferent” to “innocent” childhood. – 5. Current forms of “homage to the penis” practices in Europe. – 5.1. “Homage to the penis” practices in Italy. – 5.2. “Homage to the penis” practices and the gendering of the child among various Roma communities in Europe. – Part III. Anthropology & Law analysis. – 6. Thinking culture in anthropology and law. – 6.1. Cultural defense as a possible tool for contextualizing cultural practices in court. – 6.2. Cultural defense from a critical anthropology of law perspective. – 7. Conclusions