From Orpheus to Yothu Yindi: Music and Legal Cultures
Law, Culture and the Humanities
Published online on September 11, 2013
Abstract
This article offers a contrapuntal discussion of the connections between law and music in a variety of historical and contemporary, Western and non-Western contexts. It aims to introduce a postcolonial inflection into the current debate, using examples drawn from Indigenous law and music in Australia. Working inductively, it demonstrates that music forms part of the nomos or culture of legality in both traditional and modern societies.