23.04.24
Monday 14 February 2022
A Junior Research Fellow at St Catharine’s has been shortlisted by the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) for its annual Socio-Legal Article Prize. ‘Order in the Bazaar: The Transformation of Non-State Law in Afghanistan’s Premier Money Exchange Market’ by Dr Nafay Choudhury (2021) is one of only three articles in contention for the 2022 prize.
Formed in 1990, the SLSA exists to advance education and learning in the field of socio-legal studies and to promote research, the useful results of which shall be published for the public benefit, teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field. The SLSA awards the Socio-Legal Article Prize to the most outstanding piece of socio-legal scholarship published in the 12 months prior to nominations closing. This year’s winner is due to be announced in April.
Dr Choudhury’s writing has previously been awarded the Graduate Student Paper Prize by the Law and Society Association and the Trandafir Writing Competition Award from the Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems journal. His work sits at the intersection of socio-legal studies, legal pluralism, economic development and the rule of law, and explores the fragmented and plural forms of order that exist within the state, alongside the state and beyond the state.
As reported in his shortlisted article, he undertook an ethnographic study of Afghanistan’s money exchangers as part of his PhD to understand the interaction of state and nonstate legal systems in the production of legal order. He commented:
“I am grateful to be in contention for the SLSA Socio-Legal Article Prize and to be among such distinguished authors on the shortlist. The article is based on 14 months of fieldwork on market dynamics in Afghanistan. The SLSA community sits at the forefront of socio-legal research, and I appreciate that my work has been received so positively by this community.”
His current research looks at the role of market associations in providing normative order in fragile settings.
Update
On 7 April, the SLSA announced that Dr Choudhury had won the essay prize at a ceremony held as part of its annual conference. Speaking after the announcement, Dr Choudhury said:
"I'm honoured to receive the 2022 Article Prize from the SLSA! It is an honour to receive this recognition from a distinguished community that stands at the frontier of innovative socio-legal research."
