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Thursday, 20 April 2023, 4:00 p.m. (CEST)
"Unilateral Repudiation or Divorce? Ṭalāq Betwixt and Between Diverse (Extra-)Judicial Environments?"
About the Speaker:
Federica Sona is a Senior Research Fellow in the Law & Anthropology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale since January 2018. Prior to this, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Fundamental Rights (LDF) and as a visiting researcher in the Law Department at the University of Turin. She has academic qualifications in Law, International and Comparative Legal Studies, and a Ph.D. in Law and Society. Her main areas of expertise are official and unofficial Islamic and Muslim laws, national and international family laws, and the comparison and interactions between transnational, international and national legal systems. Her current research focuses on European Muslim communities interacting with different socio-legal orders, particularly in the UK and Italy.
About the Topic:
This talk focuses on the (in)formal implementation of a form of nuptial dissolution – which is broadly identified with the Arabic term ṭalāq. It raises red flags to signal normally unperceived dynamics affecting the (non-)recognition of foreign sharīʿah-compliant matrimonial dissolution forms, as well as potential discriminatory practices enacted by state legal systems and diplomatic missions. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the talk sheds light on otherwise concealed multiple family arrangements implying concurrent diverse nuptial statuses for transnational Muslim partners, including “limping marriages” and polygamous unions. By juxtaposing Islamic and Italian legal provisions, gendered readings offered to the judiciary by disputing (ex-)spouses and contrasting perceptions on revocability are revealed. Thorough analyses of original Arabic-language documentation and their carefully tuned translations bring to light problematic ṭalāq recognitions, which deserve to be properly scrutinized, including unnotified man’s unilateral repudiations that violate the public policy criterion and the spouse’s right of defense.
The lecture will be held as a hybrid event, i.e. you are welcome to participate either in person at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Mittelweg 187, 20148 Hamburg, or via Zoom.
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