Kirsten Campbell
Staff details
Kirsten’s research and teaching is in the field of contemporary social theory. Kirsten's work has a theoretical focus upon gender and law, which her empirical research explores through the study of international criminal law and transitional justice. She has an ongoing interest in methodological issues in feminist and socio-legal research.
Kirsten is currently the principal investigator of the European Research Council funded project, the Gender of Justice. This four year project studies the prosecution of sexual violence in armed conflict through a case study of sexual violence prosecutions before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Bosnian courts.
Kirsten’s research includes a major study of the models of subjectivity and sociality that inform international criminal justice, which is the subject of her forthcoming book, The Justice of Humans. She has also recently completed a socio-legal study of transitional justice in Spain and Bosnia (European Research Council funded).
Prior to joining the Department, Kirsten taught sociology at Brunel University, and also practised as a commercial litigation lawyer. She has received doctorates in modern languages from the University of Oxford and in law the London School of Economics.
Teaching
Kirsten’s teaching specialisations are inclassical and contemporary social theory, gender studies, socio-legal studies, and transitional justice. Kirsten was awarded the Peake Teaching award for teaching excellence, and was previously the Director of Undergraduate Programmes.
Areas of supervision
Feminist, psychoanalytic and socio-legal theory, theories of subjectivity, war crimes, sociology of conflict, international criminal law and transitional justice.
Awards, grants and media appearances
- The Gender of Justice: The Prosecution of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, principal investigator, European Research Council, 2013-2016.
- Bosnian Bones, Spanish Ghosts: Transitional Justice and the Legal Shaping of Memory after Two Modern Conflicts, senior researcher, European Research Council, principal investigator, Dr Sari Wastell, 2009-2013.
- Regulating Armed Conflict: From the Laws of War to Humanitarian Law, principal investigator, Economic and Social Research Council, 2006 – 2007 (awarded an ‘outstanding’ grade).
- The Codification of Trauma in Humanitarian Law, International Collaborative Research Grant, project co-director and researcher, Goldsmiths College and Institute of Ethnic Studies, Ljubljana, Wenner Gren Foundation, 2005–2008.
- Law After Eichmann, project co-director, Hanadiv Foundation, Slovenia, 2006.
- Teaching Theory: Seminars on Jacques Lacan, international research collaborator. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, University of Alberta, 2001-2004.
Research Interests
Kirsten’s research explores changing forms of subjectivity and justice. Her qualitative empirical work investigates this issue through studying the intersection of gender, international criminal law, and transitional justice. She has an ongoing concern with feminist and socio-legal methodologies.
Kirsten is currently the principal investigator of a European Research Council funded project, ‘The Gender of Justice’. This four-year project studies the prosecution of sexual violence in armed conflict through case studies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Bosnian courts.
Kirsten completed a major study of the models of subjectivity and sociality in international criminal justice. This is the subject of her forthcoming book, The Justice of Humans. Kirsten has also recently finished an ERC-funded socio-legal study of transitional justice in Spain and Bosnia (‘Bosnian Bones, Spanish Ghosts’). This work built on Kirsten’s previous ESRC-funded research on shifts in the legal regulation of armed conflict, ‘Regulating Armed Conflict’.
This research develops Kirsten’s earlier work on new forms of feminist subjectivity and sociality. Her book, Jacques Lacan and Feminist Epistemology, developed a social theory of feminist transformations of gendered subjects and social relations. Feminist Theory described this approach as offering ‘a new project for third-wave feminism’.
Publications and research outputs
Book
Campbell, Kirsten. 2022. The Justice of Humans: Subject, Society and Sexual Violence in International Criminal Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108497084
Campbell, Kirsten. 2004. Jacques Lacan and Feminist Epistemology. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-30087-2
Edited Book
Zipfel, Gaby; Campbell, Kirsten and Mühlhäuser, Regina, eds. 2019. In Plain Sight: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. New Delhi: Zubaan. ISBN 9789385932816
Edited Journal
Campbell, Kirsten and St Louis, Brett, eds. 2008. After ‘68: The Left and Twenty-First Century Politics, New Formations, 65.
Campbell, Kirsten and Bell, Vikki, eds. 2004. Out of Conflict: Peace, Change and Justice, Social and legal studies, 13(3). 0964-6639
Book Section
Campbell, Kirsten. 2022. On Violence as a Feminist Problem. In: Zilka Spahić Šiljak; Jasna Kovačević and Jasmina Husanović, eds. Uprkos strahu i tišini: univerziteti protiv rodno zasnovanog nasilja. Sarajevo: University of Sarajevo/TPO Foundation, pp. 31-40. ISBN 9789958600845
Campbell, Kirsten. 2019. The Gender of Justice? Current Problems and New Directions in the Field of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. In: Gaby Zipfel; Regina Mühlhäuser and Kirsten Campbell, eds. In Plain Sight: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. New Delhi: Zubaan, pp. 230-256. ISBN 9789385932816
Campbell, Kirsten. 2018. The making of international criminal justice: towards a sociology of the ‘legal field’. In: Mikkel Jarle Christensen and Ron Levi, eds. International Practices of Criminal Justice. Routledge. ISBN 9781138688377
Campbell, Kirsten. 2017. Ethical Challenges: Researching War Crimes. In: Malcolm Cowburn; Loraine Gelsthorpe and Azrini Wahidin, eds. Research Ethics in Criminology: Dilemmas, Issues and Solutions. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 150-165. ISBN 9781138803695
Campbell, Kirsten. 2015. Feminism and Lacanian Psychoanalysis. In: Samo Tomšič and Andreja Zevnik, eds. Jacques Lacan: Between Psychoanalysis and Politics. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 234-253. ISBN 978-0-415-72433-3
Campbell, Kirsten. 2014. What Do Women Want? Feminist Epistemology and Psychoanalysis. In: Mary Evans; Clare Hemmings; Marsha Henry; Hazel Johnstone; Sumi Madhok; Ania Plomien and Sadie Wearing, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Feminist Theory. Los Angeles/London: Sage, pp. 93-113. ISBN 9781446252413
Campbell, Kirsten. 2014. Testimonial Modes: Witnessing, Evidence, and Testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In: Antony Rowland and Jane Kilby, eds. The Future of Testimony: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Witnessing. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 83-109. ISBN 9780415854450
Campbell, Kirsten. 2010. From Legitimacy to Legality: The Problem of the Global Legal Form. In: C.J Thornhill and S. Ashenden, eds. Legality and Legitimacy: Normative and Sociological Approaches. Berlin: Nomos, pp. 255-275. ISBN 9783832953546
Campbell, Kirsten. 2005. Jacques Lacan. In: T. Carver and J. Martin, eds. Continental Political Thought. London: Palgrave. ISBN 9781403903686
Campbell, Kirsten; Ali, S.; Branley, D. and James, R.. 2004. Politics, Identities and Research. In: C Seale, ed. Researching Society and Culture. London: Sage, pp. 21-32. ISBN 9780761941972
Campbell, Kirsten. 2004. The plague of the subject: subjects, politics, and the power of psychic life. In: M Breen and W Blumenfeld, eds. Butler Matters: Judith Butler’s impact since Gender Trouble. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754638858
Campbell, Kirsten. 2002. New Feminist Communities. In: M Strysick, ed. Politics of Community. CO: Aurora, pp. 221-41. ISBN 9781888570632
Campbell, Kirsten. 2002. The Pedagogical is the Political. In: J Jagodzinski, ed. Pedagogical Desire: Transference, Seduction, and the Question of Authorial Ethics. Westport, London: Bergin & Garvey, pp. 74-89. ISBN 9780897897655
Campbell, Kirsten. 1998. Theorizing Possibility: Julia Kristeva and Feminist Epistemology. In: John Lechte and M Zoumazi, eds. After the Revolution: On Julia Kristeva. Sydney: Artspace, pp. 159-169. ISBN 9781876017378
Article
Campbell, Kirsten. 2022. Globalni pravni oblik međunarodnog kaznenog prava i pitanje seksualnog nasilja povezanog sa sukobima. Treća, 15(1), pp. 11-28. ISSN 1331-7237
Campbell, Kirsten; Demir, Elma and O’Reilly, Maria. 2019. Understanding Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and the ‘Everyday’ Experience of Conflict Through Witness Testimonies. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(2), pp. 254-277. ISSN 0010-8367
Campbell, Kirsten. 2018. Producing Knowledge in the Field of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict Research: Objects, Methods, Politics, and Gender Justice Methodology. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 25(4), pp. 469-495. ISSN 1072-4745
Campbell, Kirsten. 2018. Building National and Regional Accountability for Conflict Related Sexual Violence: From Prosecutions in the Former Yugoslavia to the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights. International Human Rights Law Review, 7(2), pp. 201-224. ISSN 2213-1027
Campbell, Kirsten. 2017. Testemunhar o trauma: das formas legais às formas transformadoras no testemunho sobre a violência sexual em tempo de guerra na ex-Jugoslávia/ Testifying to Trauma: Witnessing Conflict before the Law. e-cadernos ces(25), ISSN 1647-0737
Campbell, Kirsten. 2016. Gender Justice Beyond the Tribunals. American Journal of International Law Unbound, 110, pp. 227-233. ISSN 0002-9300
Campbell, Kirsten. 2014. Reassembling International Justice: The Making of ‘the Social’ in International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 8(1), pp. 53-74. ISSN 1752-7716
Campbell, Kirsten. 2013. The City of Law. International Journal of Law in Context, 9(2), pp. 192-212. ISSN 1744-5523
Campbell, Kirsten. 2013. The Laws of Memory: The ICTY, the Archive, and Transitional Justice. Social and Legal Studies, 22(2), pp. 247-269. ISSN 0964-6639
Campbell, Kirsten. 2013. The Making of Global Legal Culture and International Criminal Law. Leiden Journal of International Law, 26(1), pp. 155-172. ISSN 0922-1565
Campbell, Kirsten. 2012. Victims and Perpetrators of International Crimes: The Problem of the 'Legal Person'. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 2(2), pp. 325-351. ISSN 1878-1373
Campbell, Kirsten. 2009. Women, Gender, and Conflict: Reflecting upon the Gendered Harms of War. ASPASIA: International Yearbook of Central, Eastern and Southeastern European Women's and Gender History, 3, pp. 213-217.
Campbell, Kirsten and St Louis, Brett. 2008. After '68: The Left and Twenty-First Century Political Projects. New Formations, 65, pp. 7-18.
Campbell, Kirsten. 2007. The Gender of Transitional Justice: Law, Sexual Violence and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 1(3), pp. 411-432. ISSN 1752-7716
Campbell, Kirsten. 2007. The Balance of Terror: Torture, Terrorism, and Security. Law, Culture and the Humanities, 3(1), pp. 155-169. ISSN 17439752
Campbell, Kirsten. 2005. The Spoils of War. Economy and Society, pp. 495-507. ISSN 0308-5147
Campbell, Kirsten. 2004. The Promise of Feminist Reflexivities: Developing Donna Haraway's Project for Feminist Science Studies. Hypatia A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, 19(1), pp. 162-182. ISSN 15272001
Campbell, Kirsten. 2004. The Trauma of Justice: Sexual Violence, Crimes against Humanity and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Social & Legal Studies, 13(3), pp. 329-350. ISSN 09646639
Campbell, Kirsten and Bell, Vikki. 2004. Out of Conflict: Peace, Change and Justice. Social and Legal Studies, 13(3), pp. 299-304. ISSN 0964-6639
Campbell, Kirsten. 2003. Rape as a Crime against Humanity: Trauma and Justice in the ICTY. Journal of Human Rights, 2(4), pp. 507-515. ISSN 1475-4835
Campbell, Kirsten. 2002. Legal Memories: Sexual Assault, Memory, and International Humanitarian Law. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(1), pp. 149-176. ISSN 00979740
Campbell, Kirsten. 2002. The Politics of Kinship: Antigone’s Claim. Economy and Society, 31(4), pp. 642-650. ISSN 0308-5147
Campbell, Kirsten. 2001. The Plague of the Subject: Psychoanalysis and Judith Butler’s Psychic Life of Power. International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, 6(1-2), pp. 35-48. ISSN 1566-1768
Campbell, Kirsten. 1999. The slide in the sign; Lacan's glissement and the registers of meaning. Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities, 4(3), pp. 135-143. ISSN 0969-725X
Professional Activity
UNSPECIFIED. 2021. Amicus Curiae on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes, The Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, International Criminal Court.
Bunch, C; Campbell, Kirsten; Mlinarevic, G; Otto, D; Perovic, L; Rakic Vodinelic, V and Terselic, V. 2015. Preliminary Decision, Judicial Council of the Women’s Court for the Former Yugoslavia.
Report
Bode, Malin; Boesten, Jelke; Buss, Doris; Campbell, Kirsten; Hauser, Monika; Manjoo, Rashida; Mischkowski, Gabriela; Mlinarević, Gorana; Mühlhäuser, Regina; Studzinsky, Silke and Žarkov, Dubravka. 2021. Response to the Draft of the ‘Global Code of Conduct for Investigating and Documenting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence’. Discussion Paper.
Campbell, Kirsten. 2015. Written and Oral Expert Evidence (invited), House of Lords Select Committee on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Other. -, -.
Campbell, Kirsten and Women's Interational League for Peace and Freedom, -. 2015. Joint Evidence Submission, with Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom, House of Lords Select Committee on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Other. -, -.
Campbell, Kirsten and Wastell, Sari. 2008. Legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Technical Report. Wenner Gren Foundation.
