RT Article
T1 Multiple narratives of il/legality and im/morality: The case of small-scale hashish harvesting in Kyrgyzstan
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 25
IS 2
SP 268
OP 283
A1 Botoeva, Gulzat
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1756112525
AB The aim of this study is to contribute to the current literature concerning the social acceptance of illegal practices. Using legal pluralism as a general framework of analysis, this study discusses the relationship between state law and alternative perspectives concerning its legitimacy. It presents the experience of people involved in hashish harvesting in one of the regions of Kyrgyzstan, how the state defines it as an ‘illegal practice’ and how the local population subsequently invokes normative systems based on local spiritual knowledge and the local moral economy of hashish production. It argues that acceptance of hashish harvesting as a legitimate means of support is not a straightforward process. Despite the predominant legitimating narrative of hashish harvesting, it enters into a conversation with state defined notions of ‘illegality’ and is also shaped by the customary understanding of the spiritual power of cannabis plants that requires caution when making hashish.
K1 Neutralization Techniques
K1 Moral economy
K1 legitimation of illegality
K1 Legal pluralism
K1 illegal drug production
K1 Customary law
K1 Corrupt law enforcement
DO 10.1177/1362480619880344