Abstract

KIRSCH, Stuart. Dilemmas of an Expert Witness: Indigenous Land Rights in Suriname and Guyana. Desacatos [online]. 2018, n.57, pp.36-55. ISSN 2448-5144.

This article examines two affidavits submitted to the Inter-American Human Rights System. The first is concerned with Suriname’s refusal to recognize indigenous land rights despite its international obligations. The second addresses problems associated with indigenous land titles in Guyana. Comparing the two cases permits observations about ethnographic research conducted for expert witness reports, including the need to make affidavits legible to three overlapping frames of the legal system, communities seeking recognition of their rights, and anthropology. I also consider the narrative choices in these affidavits, the political dilemmas of being an expert witness, and the compromises of short-term ethnography.

Keywords : engaged anthropology; expert witness; indigenous rights; Inter-American Court of Human Rights; legal anthropology.