Leila Kawar

Leila Kawar is a socio-legal scholar whose work examines the cultural dimensions of legal practice. Her comparative research has focused on how the work of lawyers, judges, and other legal experts intersects with the politics of migration, citizenship, and labor. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Law and Society at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. Her first monograph, Contesting Immigration Policy in Court: Legal Activism and Its Radiating Effects in the United States and France, is published in the Law and Society Series of Cambridge University Press and is a co-winner of the Law and Society Association’s Herbert Jacob book prize. Contesting Immigration Policy in Court also received the 2016 book award from the Migration and Citizenship Section of the American Political Science Association. Her current research project explores the contributions of legal practices, principles, and professionals to liberal reform efforts in the domain of migrant labor governance. 

Recent Courses Taught:

• AMCULT 204.003 / ARABAM 204.001: Law and Border
• AMCULT 310-003 / HISTORY 329-001 / RCSSCI 316: Law and Social Policy
• AMCULT 498-001: Law in American Culture
• RCSSCI 250.001 / INTLSTD 385: Introduction to Global Workers’ Rights

Research Area(s): 

• migration law
• legal definitions of citizenship
• social justice
• social, cultural, and institutional dynamics of legal systems

Affiliations:

Core Faculty: Program in Arab and Muslim American Studies (AMAS)

Professor Kawar holds a joint appointment in the Department of American Culture (AC), and the Residential College