Jennifer Hamilton

Jennifer Hamilton, assistant professor of legal studies and anthropology, received her B.A. in anthropology and English literature (McGill University) and her Ph.D. in anthropology (Rice University).

Her interests include social studies of law, science, and biomedicine, theories of culture and identity, and critical race and gender studies.

She is the author of Indigeneity in the Courtroom: Law, Culture, and the Production of Difference in North American Courts. Her most recent research examines human genetic variation research and the sociocultural, legal, and ethical formations which emerge around it.

Recent and Upcoming Courses

Law, Medicine, and Society
This course is an introductory exploration of the ways in which the powerful institutions of law and medicine intersect, and how they shape our lives. Key questions include how society and culture affect how we interpret and experience law and medicine. Using case studies and a range of theoretical and methodological tools, we will examine key cultural and technological challenges to contemporary political and legal structures, asking how law and medicine function in a broader social context.
Field Study
Animals and the Law
How and under what circumstances are non-human animals considered persons before the law? Using perspectives from anthropology, science studies, and legal studies, this course explores the shifting status of non-human animals in Anglo-American legal tradition. While our main focus will be the understanding and treatment of non-human animals in the contemporary United States, we will also examine these issues from historical and cross-cultural perspectives. Of particular interest is how scientific knowledge comes to bear on these kinds of legal questions. This course has no prerequisites, but students should expect a heavy reading load and weekly written assignments. All students interested in the moral, political and legal status of animals are welcome.
Ethnographic Methods: The Cultures of Law, Science, and Medicine
This course introduces Division II students to ethnographic methods through the specific study of the powerful institutions of law, science, and medicine. Through the critical reading and analysis of ethnographic texts, students will learn about the substantive areas of political and legal anthropology, science studies, and critical medical anthropology. Students will also build a methodological toolkit for investigating complex social problems in the areas of law, science, and medicine. Specific topics of investigation include human rights and humanitarian interventions; organ transplantation and the exchange of biological materials; global pharmaceuticals; and multispecies ethnography. The course will culminate in final mini-ethnographic research projects designed by students. Enrollment limited to 18 Division II students.
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
This course introduces students to the discipline of anthropology, the study of human cultures and societies. In particular, students will explore cultural anthropology's themes, concepts, and methodologies, beginning with the discipline's emergence in the United States in the early 20th century and moving into 21st century anthropological inquiries. The course will be organized around a series of basic questions: How do anthropologists ask questions? How do they conduct research? How do they make sense of the world around them? What does anthropology have to offer a world with often vexing social and political problems? What are anthropology's limitations and constraints? What might a publicly engaged anthropology look like, especially in an era of globalization? We will investigate these questions by exploring anthropological work in specific areas including new media; food and culture; the cultures of science and biomedicine; and, anthropology beyond the human.
Introduction to Medical Anthropology
This course introduces students to medical anthropology, an interdisciplinary approach exploring how humans differently define and experience life, death, illness, wellness, health, sex, and pain throughout the world and over time. We begin with classic texts in medical anthropology and ethnomedicine and shift to more contemporary work in critical medical anthropology. There will be a special focus in the course on global inequalities in health and medicine, on cross-cultural perspectives on pain and suffering, and on understanding biomedicine as a cultural system.