My research confronts contradictions inherent in liberal democratic states especially in the treatment of human rights and concomitant issues of culture (re issues of fundamental inequality). Various publications provide a critical reading of the social justice as a site of inquiry within comparative and historical contexts of political economy, cultural reproductions and hegemonic state practices.

Research Interests

Current Courses

My research confronts contradictions inherent in liberal democratic states especially in the treatment of human rights and concomitant issues of culture (re issues of fundamental inequality). Various publications provide a critical reading of the social justice as a site of inquiry within comparative and historical contexts of political economy, cultural reproductions and hegemonic state practices.

By interrogating accommodative and challenging discourses that discipline the constitution and contributions of extant human rights practices and policies, my research trajectory investigated the prospects and challenges of differing perspectives ranging from the more normative traditions to an appreciation of "praxis". Law and culture as sets of texts, narratives of inequality and as moments of morality are contrasted. These foci are situated within public discourses (local) and hegemonic struggles (global), ie within the layering of state interventive practices, notably the behaviour of law (conscience and convenience; “doing good” and doing justice), materialist ideologies, significant interactions, social organizations of privilege. The notions of subjectivity, common-sense, and ideologized agencies are juxtaposed conceptually against the articulation of certain "truths" within well protected structures and concealed historical trends. Resistance and struggle as generic features of capital have also examined in different contemporary contexts of identity and power. My current research continues to explore the significance of recognition, representation and regulation in reference to the intersections of identity, institutions and ideology. How, for example, do discrepant discourses and political practices create ideologically appropriate “subjects? What is the capacity of law to transcend its neo liberal, modernist and economic exchanges based on privileged forms of social and cultural interaction? In terms of critical hermeneutics, how does one interpret relations that constitute and are constituted by the dynamics of powerful horizons? That is, how does law form and inform identities in relation to conflicting social narratives of the self and subjectivity? Where are rights in the prevailing binaries (public/ public domains) and neo liberal hybridities of civil society? Given the intersubjective constitution of juridic relations, how is the narrative of law textually mediated in hegemonic articulations and coercive experiences? How do we examine the instantially situated discoursal practices and forms of language? Essentially how does the nature of justice shape and is shaped by the quality of inequality? How does culture mediate the differential impact of law on human rights and inequality?

Degrees

Professional Leadership

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Community Contributions

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Research Interests

Current Courses