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Personal Autonomy in Plural SocietiesA Principle and its ParadoxesMarie-Claire Foblets, Michele Graziadei &#38; Alison Dundes Renteln2018 – Routledge&#160;DescriptionThis volume addresses the exercise of personal autonomy in contemporary situations of normative pluralism. In the Western liberal tradition, from a strictly legal and theoretical perspective the social individual has the right to exercise the autonomy of his or her will. In a context of legal plurality, however, personal autonomy becomes more complicated. Can and should personal autonomy be recognized as a legal foundation for protecting a person’s freedom to renounce what others view as his or her fundamental ‘human rights’? This collection develops an interdisciplinary conceptual framework to address these questions and presents empirical studies examining the gap between the principle of personal autonomy and its implementation. In a context of cultural diversity, this gap manifests itself in two particular ways. First, not every culture gives the same pre-eminence to personal autonomy when examining the legal effects of an individual’s acts. Second, in a society characterized by ‘weak pluralism’, the legal assessment of personal autonomy often favours the views of the dominant majority. In highlighting these diverse perspectives and problematizing the so-called ‘guardian function’ of human rights, i.e., purporting to protect weaker parties by limiting their personal autonomy in the name of gender equality, fair trial, etc., this book offers a nuanced approach to the principle of autonomy and addresses the questions of whether it can effectively be deployed in situations of internormativity and what conditions must be met in order to ensure that it is not rendered devoid of all meaning.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Individual Autonomy in Contemporary Plural Societies: How to Reconcile Competing Normative Standards? - Marie-Claire Foblets, Michele Graziadei and Alison Dundes RentelnPart I: Autonomy in the Face of Cultural Diversity: Disciplinary Perspectives1. The Fault in our Stars: Personal Autonomy, Philosophy, and the Law - Michele Graziadei2. Confronting Autonomy in Liberal Practice - Geoffrey Brahm Levey3. Autonomy and Deeply Embedded Cultural Identities - John Christman4. Three Approaches to the Protection of Religious Freedom: Choice, Interest, Identity - Avigail Eisenberg5. Appeals to Choice and Sexual Equality: Debates over Religious Attire - Monique Deveaux 6. Why the Individual must be Defended ~ Seemingly against all Anthropological Odds - Olaf ZenkerPart II: Autonomy in Context: Empirical IllustrationsA: The Majoritarian Assessment of Personal Autonomy7. Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: Personal Autonomy as a Pillar for the Accommodation of Employees’ Religious Practices? - Katayoun Alidadi8. Adopting a Face-Veil, Concluding an Islamic Marriage: Autonomy, Agency, and Liberal-Secular Rule - Annelies Moors9. Unregistered Muslim Marriages in the UK: Examining Normative Influences Shaping Choice of Legal Protection - Rajnaara Akhtar10. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Personal Autonomy, Forced Marriage, and the Inherent Jurisdiction in English Law - Alberto Neidhardt11. Balancing Migration Policy and Personal Autonomy in Private International Law: A Shattered Illusion? - Jinske Verhellen12. The Anti-Religious Bias in Personal Autonomy: Towards Coherence and a Solution - Toon Agten13. Shaping Notions of Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies: Addressing Female Genital Cutting in France and the European Regulatory Framework’s Approach to this Custom - Lucia Bellucci14. The Human Rights Dimensions of Virginity Restoration Surgery - Alison Dundes RentelnB. Individual Agency in situ15. ‘It is Better for Me to Agree When My Guardian is Here’: Consent and Relational Personhood in Postcolonial Malawi - Jessica Johnson16. The Multiple Search for Autonomy among Moluccans in the Netherlands: A Relational Approach - Keebet von Benda-Beckmann17. An All but Trivial Abortion: Scrutinizing Sex Selection Legislation in India through the Lens of Women’s Autonomy - Kalindi Kokal18. Rethinking Social Norms: Contraceptive Use and Women’s Right to Choose in Senegal - Chiara Quagliariello19. Autonomous Aspirations? Re-reading the CEDAW Drafting Process and Examining Muslim Women’s Contributions - Shaheen Sardar Aliand Arjumand Bano Kazmi20. ‘That’s not our Culture’: Paradoxes of Personal Property in Indigenous Self-Governance - Ian KalmanAbout the EditorsMarie-Claire Foblets is Director of the Department of Law and Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany and Professor of Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.Michele Graziadei is Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Turin, Italy and President of the Italian Society for Research on Comparative Law (SIRD).Alison Dundes Renteln is Professor of Political Science, Anthropology, Law, and Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where she teaches International Law and Human Rights.&#160;