Daniela Berti, project coordinator

Social anthropologist at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), member of PALOC (Patrimoines locaux, environnement et globalisation) and associate member of CESAH (Centre d’Études Sud Asiatiques et Himalayennes). Over the last ten years, Daniela’s research has focused on the ethnographic study of judicial settings in India. She has conducted research on various district courts in Himachal Pradesh (Kullu, Mandi, Shimla) on criminal cases – cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking, caste-based and dowry-related issues – and, more recently, on cases related to environment and animal rights. She carries out fieldwork at the National Green Tribunal in Delhi on cases dealing with conservation and species survival, and at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun (Uttarakhand) where she studies how wildlife biologists monitor animal populations, and how scientific expertise is used in court litigation.

https://himalaya.cnrs.fr/spip3/spip.php?article159

Selected Publications

✜ Edited books & special issues of journals

• 2023 Berti, D. & A. Good. Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia. Abingdon : Routledge (Religion in Contemporary Asia Series).

• 2018 Berti, D. & G. Tarabout. Through the Lens of the Law. Court Cases and Social Issues in India, South Asian Multidisciplinary Journal (SAMAJ), 17. (Open Access)

• 2016 Berti, D, G. Tarabout & R. Voix. Filing Religion. State, Hinduism and Courts of Law, New-Delhi, OUP.

• 2015 Berti, D., A. Good & G. Tarabout. Of Doubt and Proof. Ritual and Legal Practices of Judgment, Farnham, Ashgate Publishing;

• 2015 Berti, D & G. Tarabout. The Boundaries of Law. Justice, Powers and Politics, Diogenes, 60 (3-4) (2013). [English edition of Diogène, 239–240]

• 2015 Berti, D. & D. Bordia. Regimes of Legalities. Ethnography of Criminal Cases in South Asia, New Delhi, OUP.

✜ Articles & Chapters

• 2023 Berti, D. “A tale of many battles. Arguing legal personhood for animals in the USA and India”, Contributions to Indian Sociology 57, 1-2 : 13-43.

• 2023 Berti, D. & A. Good. « Introduction. The Judicialisation and Politicisation of Sacrifice », in D. Berti & A. Good (eds), Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia, pp.1-50. Abingdon; Routledge. (Open Access)

• 2023 Berti, D. “Animal Sacrifice on Trial. Moral Reforms and Religious Freedom in India,” in D. Berti & A. Good (eds), Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia, pp.79-130. Abingdon: Routledge. (Open Access)

• 2019 Berti, D. “Animals in the Public Debate: Welfare, Rights, and Conservationism in India”, in Barbara Ambros & Reiko Ohnuma (eds.), Buddhist Beasts: Reflections on Animals in Asian Religions and Cultures, Religions 2019, 10 (8): 475–99 (Open Access)

• 2017 Berti, D. & G. Tarabout. « Questioning the Truth. Ideals of justice and trial techniques in India » in Yazid Ben Hounet and Deborah Puccio-Den (eds.), Truth, Intentionality and Evidence: Anthropological Approaches to Crime. Abingdon, Routledge: 10–27. (Preprint: hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01612781/document)

• 2016 Berti, D. « Plaintiff Deities. Ritual Honours as Fundamental Rights in India » in D. Berti, G. Tarabout and R. Voix (eds), Filing Religion. State, Hinduism and Courts of Law. Delhi, OUP: 71–100. (Preprint: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02181508/document)

• 2015 Berti, D. “Gods’ Rights vs Hydroelectric Projects. Environmental Conflicts and the Judicialization of Nature in India », Rivista di Studi Orientali. Supplement 2: 111–129. (Preprint: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02334472/document)

• 2015 Berti, D. & G. Tarabout. « Religion et environnement dans les procédures judiciaires en Inde« , Cahiers de la justice, 2015 / 3: 409–420. (Online version)

• 2015 Berti, D. « The Technicalities of Doubting: Temple Consultations and District Courts in India » in D. Berti, A. Good, G. Tarabout (eds), Of Doubt and Proof. Ritual and Legal Practices of Judgment. Farnham, Ashgate : 19–38. (Preprint: https://hal.science/hal-02321024/document)

• 2015 Berti, D. “Binding Fictions. Contradictory Facts and Judicial Constraints in a Narcotics Case in Himachal Pradesh”, in Daniela Berti and Devika Bordia (eds), Regimes of Legality. Ethnography of Criminal Cases in South Asia. Delhi, OUP: 91–128. (Preprint: https://hal.science/hal-02321020/document)

• 2015 Berti, D. « Local Powers and Judicial Constraints in a Case of Rape in India », in (transl.), Diogenes, 239–240 (D. Berti and G. Tarabout, eds, The Frontiers of Law. Justice, Power and Politics): 97–115. Preprint: https://hal.science/hal-01247626v1/file/Berti_Diogenes_Local%20Powers-4.pdf)