Dörthe Engelcke

Minority Law to Go

Society EN ↓ 3 episodes

Minority Law to Go is a podcast mini-series about the debates at the crossroads of law, religion, gender, and state power in the Arab region. Hosted by Dörthe Engelcke, AGYA member and acting head of the Centre of Expertise for the Law of Arab and Islamic Countries at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, the series brings leading scholars and legal practitioners into conversation. Together, they explore the lived realities of legal pluralism and the political contexts that shape them. The series grew out of the conference “Minority Law in Arab States – Govern...

Author

Dörthe Engelcke

Episodes

Breaking Barriers: Judge Scarlet Bishara on Gender Justice and Church Courts in Palestine 21.11.2025 24:24

In 2015, Scarlet Bishara made history as the first female church court judge in an Arab country, serving in the Evangelical Lutheran Church Court of Jordan and the Holy Land in Bethlehem. In this episode, she discusses the unique role of church courts in Palestine, the landmark 2015 family law reform that introduced equal inheritance rights for men and women, and her continuing advocacy for gender...

Law, Religion, and State Power: Christian Inheritance Rights in Egypt 21.11.2025 33:00

In this episode of Minority Law To Go, host Dörthe Engelcke speaks with Gianluca Parolin, professor of law at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations at Aga Khan University in London. Together, they explore the struggle of Egyptian Christians to gain autonomy in inheritance law, the promises and limits of Article 3 of the 2012 Constitution, and the landmark 2024 Court of Cassation ruli...

Sextarianism in Lebanon: How Religious and Political Difference is Made 14.10.2025 40:41

In this episode of Minority Law To Go, host Dörthe Engelcke speaks with Maya Mikdashi, Associate Professor at Rutgers University. Together, they explore how Lebanon’s confessional system governs bodies, gender and family relations. Maya reflects on the colonial legacies shaping Lebanese law, the role of archives, and the intersections of activism and scholarship in times of political violence and...