Indonesian Legal Anthropology is a growing discipline in Indonesian studies. It has emerged as a promising career field due to its interdisciplinary nature and focus on legal practices. This field of study is an extension of the study of law and of legal background in Indonesia. Some of the many areas that this field studies include socio-cultural approach, social construction, legal and anthropological linguistics, law and human rights, law and violence, women and law, geographical and environmental aspects, and legal education and legal methods and models.
The field of Indonesian Legal Anthropology is characterised by its interdisciplinary nature. It is an offshoot of anthropological research. This field looks closely at the human origins and distribution through time. It also studies Indonesian traditional legal systems and legal innovations that are part and parcel of the Indonesian society. Legal anthropologists usually follow a socio-cultural approach in their study. They try to understand the factors that shape human actions and the environment that produce and foster them.
Legal anthropological research addresses legal history and its importance in the society. They also analyse the evolution of law in Indonesia and its effect on contemporary life. Legal anthropologists normally follow a developmental or social constructionist methodology. They try to define and create categories about human beings. Categories are used to group human beings on the basis of their similarities and differences. Differences are then analysed using the comparative method.
Indonesian legal anthropology is important for understanding the significance of human beings in Indonesian culture, society, organisation and economy. This field also tries to shed light on the past practices and legal interventions that helped make the Indonesian society what it is today. Legal anthropologists are involved in different types of work. One of these is performing archival research. They collect material such as case files, personal papers, legal records and transcriptions from oral, written and pictorial sources. These materials are then catalogued and categorized according to the people whose information has been gathered.
Legal anthropologists also carry out fieldwork and research among Indonesian islands in the South-East Asia region. For this purpose they often use RFLP (Reduced Formal Architecture) techniques. They also conduct case studies on topics such as family law, land laws, customary laws, immigration and customary tourism, human resources, corporate law, and family law, international law, and human rights.
Indonesian legal anthropology also deals with the study of Indonesian national and local law and its application to private and public policies and practices. The major area of study of this field is family law, though other areas such as criminal law, contract law, property law, violence against women and children, human trafficking, human resources, and family laws are also researched. Legal anthropologists also conduct research on the role of law in society, and how it impacts human rights. The current system of justice in Indonesia is described by Layarich, which he created based on the tenets of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child. A tenative procedure is applied to trials in Indonesian legal systems.
The primary objective of Indonesian legal anthropologists is to provide an overall analysis of the legal system of Indonesia, to assist clients in developing relevant cases and to assist in the formulation of appropriate legal strategies. Cases handled by legal anthropologists in Indonesia involve physical, mental, economic, and social abuse, enforced disappearances, enforced disappearations, and political persecution. They also specialize in cases concerning the media, pornography, and alcohol abuse. They are involved in identifying, documenting, analyzing, and preparing material for trials and settlements. The cases of clients that they represent range from individual cases to complex cases of families, organizations, and communities. They assist in the preparation of defense files, conduct interviews, gather and compile data, prepare statements, make legal documents, and prepare court papers.
Lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals in Indonesia undertake private legal research and investigation. Legal research and investigation in Indonesia involve analyzing records of human rights, local cultures, customary laws, and current human rights practices and sensitivities. There are many graduate universities in Indonesia that provide programs on legal anthropology and the program for law students is called as a Ph.D. or doctoral degree in Indonesian Law and Society. Some of the major institutions of higher learning in Indonesia that offer this program are University of Indonesian School of Medicine, Department of Forensic Science, Kitin Museum, Prakarni University, East Java University, and Tantra Saron Malaysia