In the Shade of an African Baobab: Tom Bennett’s Legacy is a collection of essays published to honour and thank Tom Bennett for his generous contribution to scholarly work over the years in the field of legal pluralism and African jurisprudence, as well as for his mentorship and friendship.

The book brings together a collection of work by esteemed scholars from multidisciplinary fields, though the work is focused on aspects of law, culture and religion. The common thread through all the contributions is Tom. His scholarly influence, visible in each of the contributions, can be compared to the mighty Baobab tree: a large iconic, culturally important and majestic tree indigenous to Africa.

• Tribute to Tom Bennett – Hugh Corder
• In the Shade of an African Baobab: Thomas W (Tom) Bennett on Custom and Religion – Christa Rautenbach 
• A Tribute to Emeritus Professor Thomas Bennett – Chuma Himonga
• When Grace Met Bennett: An Intersectionality Analysis of Bennett’s Commentary on Culture and Legal Pluralism in South Africa – Jewel Amoah
• African Women and Fair Trial in South Africa – Adenike Aiyedun
• Patrimonial Consequences of the Conversion of a South African Marriage to a Civil Marriage – Pieter Bakker
• Illegal Mining: The Continued Struggle for Mineral Resources, Communities and the Environment – Willemien du Plessis & Juanita Pienaar
• The Culturalisation of Religion and the Pursuit of Diversity: Co-existence within Religious Difference in South Africa and Europe – Kyriaki Topidi
• OHADA Law and its Target Population: Is there Room for African Traditional Law within the Harmonisation of Contract Laws in Africa? – Salvatore Mancuso
• African Legal Realism and Risk Assessment of Irrationality through Deliberate Silencing of African Voices and Perspectives – Werner Menski
• Legal Pluralism and Social Change: Insights from Matrimonial Property Rights in Nigeria – Anthony Diala
• Negotiating Space and Place in Relation to Land: A View from Kweneng Land Board, Botswana – Anne Griffiths
• Human Rights at the Intersection of Legal Orders: The Case of the ‘Kharisiri’ – Eva Brems
• Customary Legal Empowerment in Africa: How Rule of Law Programming has Impacted on Legal Pluralism in Malawi – Janine Ubink

Lawyers and anthropologists engaged in the fields of legal pluralism, custom and religion