Justin B. Richland

Justin B. Richland's areas of research interest include legal discourse analysis and semiotics, anthropology of law, and contemporary Native American law and politics. From 2005 - 2009 he served as Justice Pro Tempore of the Hopi Appellate Court, the highest court of the Hopi Nation. He is founding Chairman of the Board of The Nakwatsvewat Institute, Inc. a non-profit organization offering social justice services to native nations in the US. He currently serves as Co-Book Reviews Editor of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association.

He has two books, Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies (with Sarah Deer), Alta Mira Press 2004 (Second Edition forthcoming 2009), and Arguing With Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court, U. Chicago Press 2008. 

Born and raised in Southern California, Richland is a rabid Los Angeles Lakers fan, often to the chagrin of his closest friends and colleagues.

Selected Publications

Books

• Richland, J.B. (2008) Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court. University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London

• Richland, J.B. and Deer, S. (2004) Introduction To Tribal Legal Studies. Tribal Legal Studies Series, Vol. 1. Alta Mira Press: Walnut Creek, CA (2nd Edition, Forthcoming, Dec 2009)

Articles, Book Chapters and Other Publications

• Richland, J.B. (In Press) "'They Did It Like A Song' : Ethics, Aesthetics and Tradition in Hopi Legal Discourse." In M. Lambek (Ed.) Ordinary Ethics. Fordham U. Press.
• Richland, J.B. (In Press) "Review of Bradin Cormack's A Power to Do Justice: Jurisdiction, English Literature, and the Rise of Common Law 1509-1625. Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 2008." Law, Culture & Humanities.
• Richland, J.B. and Sekaquaptewa, P. (In Press) "The Nakwatsvewat Institute, Inc.: Helping Hopi Justice Work for Hopi People." In L.Davis (Ed.) Re-envisioning Relationships, Aboriginal Alliances. U Toronto Press.
• Richland, J.B. (2009) "'Language, Court, Constitution. It's All Tied Up Into One': The (Meta)pragmatics of Tradition in a Hopi Tribal Court Hearing." In Paul Kroskrity and Margaret Field, eds. Native American Language Ideologies: Beliefs, Feelings, and Struggles in Indian Country. University of Arizona Press: Tucson, AZ.
• Richland, J.B. (2009) "Hopi Sovereignty as Epistemological Limit." Wicazo Sa Review 24 (1), 89-112
• Richland, J.B. (2009) "On Neoliberalism And Other Social Diseases: The 2008 Sociocultural Anthropology Year in Review." American Anthropologist 110 (2), 170-176.
• Glowacka, M., Washburn, D. and Richland, J.B. (2009) "Nuvatkya'ovi San Francisco Peaks: Balancing Western Economies with Native American Spiritualities." Current Anthropology Vol. 50 (4), 547-562. 
• Richland, J.B. (2008) "Sovereign Time, Storied Moments: The Temporalities of Law, Tradition and Ethnography in Hopi Tribal Court." PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropological Review  31 (1), 56-75
• Richland, J.B. (2008) "The State of Hopi Exception: When Inheritance is What You Have." Law and Literature, 20 (2), 161-178
• Burns, R., Constable, M., Richland, J., Sullivan, W., (2008) "Analyzing The Trial: Interdisciplinary Methods" Directions PoLAR: Political & Legal Anthropology Review 31 (2). 303-329.
• Richland, J.B. (2008) "Review of Felix Cohen's 'On the Drafting of Tribal Constitutions.' David E. Wilkins, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 32, 2.
• Richland, J.B. (2007) "Pragmatic Paradoxes and Ironies of Indigeneity at the 'Edge' of Hopi Sovereignty." American Ethnologist 34, 540-557
• Richland, J.B. (2007) "Interpretazione significato e intenzionalità nelle dispute legali tra gli Hopi." In Linguaggio e Agency: Etnoteorie della Soggettività e della Responsabilità nell'Azione Sociale, Aurora Donzelli, Alessandra Fasulo, eds. (Meltemi Editore Roma).
• Richland, J.B. (2007) Response to L. Nesper "Negotiating Jurisprudencein Tribal Court and the Emergence of a Tribal State: The Ojibwe in Wisconsin." Current Anthropology, 48 (5), 675-699
• Richland, J.B. (2007) Mitchel v. United States, 34 U.S. 711; 9 L.Ed. 283 (1835), in Donald L. Fixico, ed., Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts, and Sovereignty. ABC-CLIO.
• Richland, J.B. (2006) "The Multiple Calculi of Meaning." Discourse & Society, 17 (1), 65-97
• Richland, J.B. (2006) "Cultural 'Shock'." Current Anthropology, 47, 876-78
• Richland, J.B. (2005) "What are you going to do with the village's knowledge?" Talking Tradition, Talking Law in Hopi Tribal Court. Law and Society Review, 39, 235-271.
• Richland, J.B. (2002) "Review of John M. Conley and William M. O’Barr’s Just Words: Law, Language and Power, (1998) Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology,12 (1), 34-35
• Richland, J.B. (2000) "Review of Melissa Pflüg’s Ritual & Myth in Odawa Revitalization: Reclaiming a Sovereign Place. (1998)" American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 24 (1), 56-58