Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDUCATION
PhD, Sociology, The American University, Washington, DC (1995).
MA, Arab Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC (1986).
BA, International Relations, Tufts University, Medford, MA (1983).
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Associate Professor (since 2003) and Assistant Professor (2001-03), Department of Sociology
(since 2010) and Law and Society Program (2001-10), UCSB. Affiliated with Departments of
Global and International Studies, Religious Studies, and Middle East Studies.
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA (1999-2001).
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Swarthmore College,
Swarthmore, PA (1995-99).
GRANTS and AWARDS
American Bar Association, Litigation Research Fund Grant (2010).
Academic Senate, Individual Faculty Research Grant, UCSB (2009).
Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research (ISBER), Research Grant, UCSB (2002,
2009).
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Faculty Research Grant, UCSB (2009).
Harold J. Plous Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, UCSB (2003).
Academic Senate Committee on Research, Junior Faculty Incentive Award, UCSB (2002).
Center for Historical Analysis, Post-doctoral Fellowship, Rutgers University (1999, declined).
Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award, Middle East Studies Association (1995).
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Program in Global Peace and Security, Writing
Grant (1994).
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, Writing Grant (1993).
National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program’s Global Perspectives on
Sociolegal Studies, Dissertation Improvement Grant (1993).
Institute for Intercultural Studies, Dissertation Grant (1992).
American Association of University Women, Dissertation Grant (1991).
Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East of the American Council of Learned Societies and
the Social Science Research Council, Dissertation Grant (1991).
Hajjar, page 2
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Lawfare: The Legal Campaign against American Torture. In progress.
Human Rights: Critical Concepts in Political Science, Vols. 1-5. Co-edited with Richard Falk and
Hilal Elver. Routledge, 2008.
Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza. University of
California Press, 2005.
A Survey of the Syrian Population in the Occupied Golan Heights: Demography and Health.
Coauthor with Hasan Abu Libdeh et al. Arab Association for Development, 1994.
Journal Articles
Does Torture Work? A Socio-Legal Assessment of the Practice in Historical and Global
Perspective. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol. 5 (2009).
Rights at Risk: Why the Right Not To Be Tortured Is Important to You. Studies in Law, Politics
and Society, vol. 48 (2009).
The World and the Academy: New Directions in Human Rights Scholarship (review essay),
Contemporary Sociology vo. 38, no. 1 (January 2009).
International Humanitarian Law and “Wars on Terror”: A Comparative Analysis of Israeli and
American Doctrines and Policies. Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 36, no. 1 (Autumn 2006).
Chaos as Utopia: International Criminal Prosecution as a Challenge to State Power. Studies in
Law, Politics, and Society, vol. 31 (2004).
Religion, State Power and Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: A Framework for
Comparative Analysis. Law and Social Inquiry, vol. 29 (2004).
Law against Order: Human Rights Organizations and the Palestinian Authority. University of
Miami Law Review, vol. 56 (2002).
Human Rights in Israel/Palestine: The History and Politics of a Movement. Journal of Palestine
Studies, vol. 30 (2001).
Hajjar, page 4: Publications
Journal Articles (continued)
Sovereign Bodies, Sovereign States, and the Problem of Torture. Studies in Law, Politics and
Society, vol. 21 (2000).
Speaking the Conflict, or How the Druze Became Bi-lingual: A Study of Druze Translators in the
Israeli Military Courts. Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 23 (2000).
Cause Lawyering in Transnational Perspective: National Conflict and Human Rights in
Israel/Palestine. Law and Society Review, vol. 31 (1997).
Book Chapters
An Assault on Truth: A Chronology of Torture, Deception and Denial. In Elisabeth Weber and
Julie Carlson, editors, Assault on Truth: Torture and the Humanities. Fordham University Press,
forthcoming.
Universal Jurisdiction as Praxis: An Option To Pursue Legal Accountability for Superpower
Torturers. In Austin Sarat and Nasser Hussein, editors, When Governments Break the Law: The
Rule of Law and the Prosecution of the Bush Administration. New York University Press, 2010.
Human Rights Law, Executive Powers, and Torture in the Post-9/11 Era. In Alice Bullard, editor,
Human Rights in Crisis. Ashgate, 2008.
Towards a Sociology of Human Rights: Critical Globalization Studies, International Law, and the
Future of War. In William Robinson and Richard Appelbaum, editors, Towards a Critical
Globalization Studies: Continued Debates, New Directions, and Neglected Topics. Routledge,
2005.
From Nuremberg to Guantanamo: International Law and American Power Politics (reprint of
article). In Jeremy Brecher, Jill Cutler and Brendan Smith, editors, In the Name of Democracy:
American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond. Metropolitan Books, 2005.
Human Rights. In Austin Sarat, editor, The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society. Blackwell
Publishers, 2004.
Domestic Violence and Shari’a: A Comparative Study of Muslim Societies in the Middle East,
Africa and Asia. In Lynn Welchman, editor, Women’s Rights and Islamic Family Law:
Perspectives on Reform. Zed Press, 2004.
From the Fight for Legal Rights to the Promotion of Human Rights: Israeli and Palestinian Cause
Lawyers in the Trenches of Globalization. In Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold, editors, Cause
Lawyering and the State in a Global Era. Oxford University Press, 2001.
The Contemporary Sociology of the Middle East: An Assessment. Coauthor with Samih Farsoun.
In Hisham Sharabi, editor, Theory, Politics and the Arab World. Routledge, 1990.
Hajjar, page 5: Publications
Encyclopedia Entries
The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza: Arrest, Interrogation and
Prosecution of Palestinians. In Cheryl Rubenberg, editor, Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010.
Family Violence (entry), Torture (entry). In David S. Clark, editor, Encyclopedia of Law and
Society: American and Global Perspectives. Sage Publications, 2007.
Book Reviews
Militarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: A Palestinian
Case Study, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Journal of Middle
East Women’s Studies, forthcoming.
Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes, Tom Ginsburg and Tamir
Moustafa, eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Perspectives on Politics, vol. 7, no. 3 (2009).
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, Norman Finkelstein
(University of California Press, 2005). Human Rights Review, vol. 8, no. 4 (2007).
Torture: A Collection, Sanford Levinson, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004). Law, Culture and
the Humanities, vol. 2, no. 4 (2006).
The Palestinian People: A History, Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal (Harvard University
Press, 2003). Contemporary Sociology, vol. 33 (2004).
Law in the Domains of Culture, Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns, eds. (University of Michigan
Press, 2000). Contemporary Sociology, vol. 32 (2003).
The Colonies of Law: Colonialism, Zionism and Law in Early Mandate Palestine, Ronen Shamir
(Cambridge University Press, 2000). American Journal of Sociology, vol. 106 (2001).
Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran, Ervand Abrahamian
(University of California Press, 1999). Middle East Journal, vol. 54 (2000).
Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities in Conflict, Nadim Rouhana (Yale
University Press, 1997). Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, vol. 6 (2000).
Haifa: Transformation of an Arab Society, 1918-1939, May Seikaly (I.B. Tauris Publishers,
1995). International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 31 (1999).
Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt, Margot Badran
(Princeton University Press, 1995). American Ethnologist (1996).
Hajjar, page 7: Publications, Professional Activities
Interviews
Human Rights Organizations in the Arab World and Problems of Dependency: Abdullahi An-
Na’im. Middle East Report, no. 214 (2000).
Middle East Studies in the Arab World: Salim Nasr. Middle East Report, no. 205 (1997).
War, Development and Politics in Sudan: Robert Shaloub. Middle East Report, no. 200 (1996).
The Islamist Movement in the Occupied Territories: Iyad Barghouti. Middle East Report, no. 183
(1993).
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Conference and Symposia Papers
The Liberal Ideology of Torture: A Critical Examination of the American Case. Middle East
Studies Association (MESA) meeting, San Diego, November 18 – 21, 2010.
Lawyers, Litigation and the US Anti-Torture Campaign. American Political Science Association
meeting, Washington, DC, September 2 – 5, 2010.
The Quest for Universal Jurisdiction: Transnational Networks and Alliances among Lawyers and
Human Rights Organizations, Law and Society Association (LSA) meeting, Chicago, IL, May 27
– 30, 2010.
Universal Jurisdiction as Praxis: The Best Option for Holding Superpower Torturers Legally
Accountable. New York University Law and Society Colloquium, January 21, 2010.
Universal Jurisdiction as Praxis: A Social History of Transnationalized Justice. American
Sociological Association (ASA) annual meeting, San Francisco, August 8-11, 2009.
Palestinian Human Rights: Under Occupation, In War. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Conference, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, April 3-4, 2009.
Torture. Conference on “Scenes of Secrecy: Interdisciplinary Inquiries on Suspicion, Intelligence,
and Security,” Duke University, October 17, 2008.
Lawfare: Viva la Litigation! LSA meeting, Montreal, May 28-June 1, 2008.
Lawfare. Conference on Torture, Law and War, University of Chicago Law School, February 28-
29, 2007.
Hajjar, page 8: Professional Activities
Invited Lectures
The Liberal Ideology of Torture: A Critical Examination of the American Case. Symposium on
“Actually Existing Democracy (and Why There Is So Little of It),” The Munroe Center for Social
Inquiry, Pitzer College, November 13, 2010.
Terror and Torture: The Trial of Omar Khadr. Middle East Studies Program and Center for Global
Islamic Studies, George Mason University, October 4, 2010.
The Trials of Lawyers in the Era of Torture. Delivered at three venues: Sciences Po Aix, March
24, 2010; Swarthmore College, April 19, 2010; George Mason University, April 21, 2010.
Israeli and American Ways of War: A Comparative Analysis. Delivered at two venues: Science
Po Aix, March 25, 2010; Brown University, April 14, 2010.
Domestic Violence, Shari’a, and Women’s Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Muslim Societies
in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Lecture Series on Anthropology of Religion and Gender, Georgetown University, February 26,
2010.
Does Torture Work? Lessons from the American Case. Conference on Torture and Impunity: Ten
Years after the High Court of Justice Torture Decision, sponsored by the Public Committee
against Torture in Israel, Jerusalem, December 27 – 29, 2009.
Women, Politics and Law. Gender Studies Research Roundtable, Whitman College, September
23, 2008.
Borders, Surveillance and Torture: The Political Backdrop to 9/11 Policies. Office of International
Scholars and Students, UCSB, July 22, 2008.
Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: Comparative Perspectives. Conference on Comparative
Islamic Law and Family Violence, sponsored by Medico Mondial, Kabul, Afghanistan, December
5-6, 2007.
Torture and Democracy: A Conversation with Naomi Klein and Lisa Hajjar. New York University
Humanities Initiative: Beyond Empire, New York City, November 28, 2007.
Cause Lawyering in Palestine. Harvard Law School, March 16, 2007.
Palestinian Prisoners and the Law. Tel Aviv University, January 9, 2007.
Hajjar, page 11: Professional Activities
How Israel Influences America’s “Global War on Terror.” Bir Zeit University, Ramallah, West
Bank, January 7, 2007.
Human Rights in Palestine. Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem, January 6, 2007.
On Torture. Point Blanks Project, Los Angeles, CA, March 11, 2006.
International Humanitarian Law and “Wars on Terror”: A Comparative Analysis of Israeli and
American Doctrines and Policies. Delivered at four venues: Law and Society Colloquium, New
York Law School, January 27, 2006; Program in Law and Public Affairs, Princeton University,
February 13, 2006; Interpretive Theory Program, Swarthmore College, March 17, 2006; Watson
Institute for International Studies, Brown University, March 20, 2006.
The Second Intifada and the Global “War on Terror.” Institute for the Transregional Study of the
Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, Princeton University, February 15,
2006.
The Causes and Costs of America’s Torture Scandal: A Critical Assessment of the Role of
Lawyers. University of Massachusetts, October 6, 2005.
What’s the Matter with Yoo? The Crime of Torture, the Role of Lawyers, and the Importance of
Abu Ghraib. Irvine Lecture in Critical Theory, Critical Theory Institute, University of California-
Irvine, April 13, 2005.
Whither the Rule of Law? Abu Ghraib, Torture and the Future of US Democracy. Middle East
Center, University of Pennsylvania, March 23, 2005.
Torture and the Future. Forty-sixth Annual Harold J. Plous Award Lecture, UCSB, May 3, 2004.
Bye Bye Law? A Contemplation on the Future of War. University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada, January 22, 2004.
Bridging Divides through the Study of Conflicts. Keynote address, LSA Graduate Student
Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA, June 3, 2003.
Chaos as Utopia: International Criminal Prosecution as a Challenge to State Power. Amherst
College, Amherst, MA, November 2002.
War (and) Crimes: Responding to the Attacks on the US. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR,
November 4, 2001.
Domestic Violence and Islamic Family Law: A Comparative Study of the Middle East, Africa and
Asia. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AK, March 2001.
Palestinian and Israeli Women in Struggles over Rights in Israel/Palestine. Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH, April 2000.
A Human Rights Critique of the Israeli-Palestinian Agreements. Keynote address, Central
Pennsylvania Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee holiday banquet, Harrisburg, PA,
December 1998.
Hajjar, page 12: Professional Activities
The Struggle for Rights in the Age of Negotiated Agreements. Yale Law School and New York
University Law School, April 1998.
Ethnic Identity and Sociological Research. Tel Aviv University, Israel, December 1997.
The Changing Face of Human Rights Activism in Israel/Palestine. Center for Policy Analysis on
Palestine, Washington, DC, August 1997.
Jerusalem: The Legal Issues. University of Texas, Austin, April 1997.
Repression by Law: The Israeli Military Legal System and a Glimpse at Its Palestinian Aftermath.
University of Texas, Austin, April 1995.
The Uses and Abuses of Patriotism in the Gulf War. Washington College of Law, The American
University, Washington, DC, February 1991.
Presentations
Evaluating the Obama Administration’s First Year: The Promises To Close Guantánamo, End
Torture and Restore the Rule of Law. Panel of Experts on US Policy, Scripps College, February
12, 2010.
Lawyering for Humanity: Notes on the Empirical Study of Anti-Torture Legal Activism in the
US. Faculty colloquium, UCLA School of Law, August 31, 2009.
In Defense of Education: A Panel on Academic Freedom. Faculty panel organized by UCSB
Committee To Defend Academic Freedom, May 21, 2009.
Gaza and Human Rights. Faculty Panel organized by UCLA Center for Middle East Studies,
January 29, 2009.
Picking a President: How To Make Sense of Your Vote. Faculty panel organized by UCSB
College of Letters and Science Honors Program and Associated Students, October 28, 2008.
Symposium on Academic Freedom. Faculty roundtable organized by University of California
Humanities Research Center and University of California – Irvine Humanities Center, April 24,
2008.
Human Rights, Security and Global Governance. Roundtable at West Coast Law and Society
Retreat, Honolulu, HI, January 3-4, 2008.
International Relations and the Silencing of Civil Discourse. Panel sponsored by the UCSB
Women’s Center, October 16, 2007.
Teaching Human Rights. Faculty panel as part of Critical Issues in America series on “Torture
and the Future,” May 10, 2007.
Shifts in Strategy for Social Transformation. Roundtable on “After Public Interest Law,” Law and
Society (LSA) annual meeting, Baltimore, MD, July 6-9, 2006.
Cause Lawyering. LSA Graduate Student Workshop, Baltimore, MD, July 4-5, 2006.
Hajjar, page 13: Professional Activities
Presentations (continued)
Abuses of Power. Community forum sponsored by American Civil Liberties Union-Santa Barbara
Chapter, Santa Barbara, June 20, 2006.
Living with the War on Terror. Faculty Research Series, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center,
UCSB, May 25, 2006.
The Attack on Middle East Studies: A New McCarthyism? Community Education and Dialogue
Series, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Chicago, IL, January 29, 2006.
Lawyers, Academics and Judges under Attack. National Lawyers Guild annual meeting, Portland,
OR, October 26, 2005.
Post-election Palestine. Symposium on “Post-election Turmoil in the Middle East,” UCSB,
February 18, 2005.
The Law of Torture. Conference of experts, Program in Law and Public Affairs, Princeton
University, February 5, 2005.
Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War. Panel Discussion, UCSB, March 9, 2004.
Going Inside the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, or How I Learned to Love the Law. “Town Forum”
series, Santa Barbara, CA, February 18, 2004.
The Second Intifada and the Global War on Terror. “Faculty Work in Progress” series,
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB, November 18, 2003.
Road Maps, Walls, Checkpoints and Other Dead Ends in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Women’s Center, UCSB, October 23, 2003.
Edward Said’s Legacy in Middle East Studies. Smposium on “Edward Said: Appraisals of His
Life and Work,” Center for Middle East Studies, UCSB, October 22, 2003.
Empirical Approaches to International Human Rights Law. Roundtable, LSA annual meeting,
Pittsburgh, PA, June 2003.
Response to Daniel Ellsberg. Public forum on “Iraq, Terrorism and the Danger of Nuclear War,”
Victoria Street Theater, Santa Barbara, CA, March 13, 2003.
International Humanitarian Law and the Iraq Crisis. Symposium on “Iraq…What Next?” UCSB,
February 12, 2003.
In Times of Trouble: The Problem of Racial Profiling. “Race Matters” series, Multicultural
Center, UCSB, January 28, 2002.
Law and Politics in the Aftermath of September 11. “Thinking through the Catastrophe” series,
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB, October 4, 2001.
Human Rights Organizations and (versus?) the Palestinian Authority. Human Rights Workshop,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 2001.
Women's Rights in the Middle East. Amnesty International forum on women and human rights,
Washington, DC, March 1994.
Hajjar, page 14: Professional Activities
Discussant
Author-Meets-Readers for Whitewashed (John Tehranian) and Negotiating Justice (Corey
Shdaimah) [two separate panels]. Law and Society Association annual meeting, May 2009.
The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court, Conversation with filmmakers.
4th Annual Santa Barbara Human Rights Film Festival, UCSB, May 26, 2009.
Legality and Legitimacy in the International Order. UCSB Orfalea Center conference, April 2007.
Palestinians in Israel Revisited. Panel at Middle East Studies Association (MESA) annual
meeting, Boston, MA, November 2006.
States of Incarceration: Forms, Formations, Resistances. Panel at MESA annual meeting, Boston,
MA, November 2006.
Publics and Counter-publics. Workshop on “Islam and the Public Sphere,” co-sponsored by New
York University and UCSB, Santa Barbara, April 21, 2006.
War, Crime, or Terror? Perspectives on Global Violence. Discussant, 40th Anniversary Panel,
LSA annual meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2004.
Knowing Rights—State Actors’ Stories of Power, Identity and Morality. Panel at LSA annual
meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2003.
The Ruse of Law. Panel at MESA annual meeting, Orlando, FL, November 2000.
Relativity: The Social Construction of Torture. Conference on “Investigating and Combating
Torture: Explorations of a New Human Rights Paradigm,” University of Chicago, Chicago, IL,
March 1999.
Cause Lawyering in the Global Era. Working Group of the Comparative Study of the Legal
Professions bi-annual meeting, Onati, Spain, July 1998.
The Politics of Representing Arab Societies in the US. Colloquium on “The Politics of Culture in
Arab Societies in an Era of Globalization,” Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, May 1997.
Program co-organizer, “Torture and the Future: Perspectives from the Humanities,” Critical Issues
in America Program, UCSB, 2006-07.
Panel organizer, “Terrorizing the Law: Paradigms and Practices in Detaining, Interrogating and
Prosecuting,” LSA annual meeting, Las Vegas, NV, June 2-6, 2005.
Conference organizer, “Facts, Rights and Remedies: Implementing International Law in the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB, May
2004.
Symposium co-organizer, “Home of the Free? A Public Forum on the Patriot Acts,” sponsored by
the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB, April 2004.
Panel organizer, “International Justice, Local Injustices,” Middle East Studies Association
(MESA) annual meeting, November 2003.
Symposium organizer, “Current Crises in the Middle East,” sponsored by the Multicultural
Center, UCSB, October 2003.
Conference organizer, “New Directions in Human Rights Scholarship,” Law and Society
Program, UCSB, April 2002.
Panel organizer, “Human Rights and Legal Reform in Muslim Societies,” LSA annual meeting,
Budapest, Hungary, July 2001.
Panel organizer, “Legal Aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” LSA annual meeting,
Chicago, IL, June 1999.
Lecture series organizer, “Human Rights in Theory and Practice,” Swarthmore College,
Swarthmore, PA, 1997-99.
Panel organizer, “Critical Theories and Middle East Studies,” MESA annual meeting,
Washington, DC, December 1991.
Panel organizer, “Human Rights and the Middle East: The Question of Universal Standards,”
MESA annual meeting, Washington, DC, November 1991.
Panel organizer, “Doing Human Rights Work on the Middle East: Issues and Obstacles,” MESA
annual meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 1990.
Hajjar, page 16: Professional Activities
REVIEWER
Book Manuscripts: University of California Press, Syracuse University Press, Indiana University
Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge.
Article Manuscripts: American Ethnologist; American Journal of Sociology; Contemporary
Sociology; Ethnic and Racial Studies; Feminist Studies; Gender and Development; International
Journal of Middle East Studies; Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies; Law and Social
Inquiry; Law and Society Review; Middle East Journal; PoLAR; Social Problems; Studies in Law,
Politics and Society.
Research Proposals: National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation,
Social Science Research Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
MEMBERSHIPS
American Sociological Association
Law and Society Association
Middle East Studies Association
Working Group on the Comparative Study of the Legal Professions