People
Holly Dunn
Assistant Professor
Contact
Home Campus: Tampa
Office: SOC 374
Email: hmatthewdunn@usf.edu
Office Hours: By appointment
Links
Bio
My two main areas of interest are: 1) law and justice in conflict-affected contexts, and 2) the intersection of research methods and ethics. Substantively, I focus on the rule of law, legal consciousness, and legal pluralism, especially in countries that have been affected by conflict or other forms of widespread violence. My fieldwork is in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo and considers how people conceptualize harms and disputes and how/where they seek justice for them in their daily lives. In particular, I focus on shifts in legal consciousness through legal reform activities and how these shifts are implicated in the construction of legality. In other words, how do changes in legal consciousness shape the terrain of legal pluralism? This research forms the basis of my recent book, Legal Consciousness and the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies: Emergent Hybrid Legality in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2022, Routledge).
The second strand of my research interest is in the intersection of research methods and ethics. After experiencing varied ethical tensions––situations that required ethical reflection––during my fieldwork, I began to explore how research ethics are addressed in Political Science research and publications. I have published on this topic in Women’s Perspectives on Human Security: Violence, Environment, and Sustainability. My current book project explores this topic further.
My primary areas of teaching correspond with my research interests. I frequently teach ‘Comparative Law’ and ‘Conflict in the World’ to undergrads and ‘Qualitative Analysis’ and ‘Fieldwork in Political Science’ to grad students.
Research
Post-conflict justice, rule of law, legal pluralism, legal politics, gender justice, qualitative and critical methods