Responsibilities: School Research Director

Module  leader: LLM Human Rights and Sexuality

Other Teaching: Criminal Law

Biography:

Oliver Phillips read Law and Politics at the University   of Cape Town before his  enthusiasm for Criminology led him to do an M.Phil. and then a PhD. at Cambridge University  (Girton College).  Oliver worked as a researcher and lecturer in  Criminology at the University of London (Goldsmiths and Birkbeck  Colleges), but then returned to  lecturing Law when he joined the Gender, Sexuality, and Law group at Keele University.  In 2000-2001 Oliver was the Rockefeller  Fellow on the Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Human  Rights at Columbia University (USA), and then joined the School  of Law at Westminster in September 2002.

Oliver’s  teaching and research interests are drawn from the broad fields of crime and  deviance, sexuality and gender, post-colonialism and rights. More specifically,  his research and publications focus on the legal and conventional regulation of  sexuality, as well as the legal and discursive production of rights and  subjectivity. Located in the post-colonial context of Southern   Africa, Oliver’s research links the treatment of HIV/AIDS to  issues such as the handling of custom in Constitutional law, enabling him to  explore some of the tensions and confluences between the local and the global,  and between claims made for universalism and for relativism.

Oliver  is the module leader for the LLM module “Human Rights and Sexuality” and  contributes to teaching Criminal Law on the LLB programme. He is involved in  supervising both undergraduate and graduate dissertations.
  A  few examples of PhD dissertations that Oliver has supervised or is currently  supervising are:

•   ‘The  Bougainville Crisis: An Investigation into  State-Corporate Crime’ (Kris Lasslett – completed December 2009)
•   ‘HIV/AIDS  and the Discourse of Human Rights in Kenya: Individual Expectations, Notions  of Entitlement and the Role of the State’ (Rebeccca Maina – due to complete  Spring 2010)
•   ‘Restorative  Justice as a Disciplinary Tool in Schools in Singapore’ (Julia Wong – due to  complete 2011)
•   ‘Sexual  Identity and the Language of International Human Rights’ (Kay Lalor – due to  complete 2012)
  
  

As  School Research Director, Oliver sits on the University’s Research Committee,  and the University’s Research Degree’s Sub-Committee.  Oliver also chairs the Law School’s  Research Committee and related sub-committees. He is an active participant in  the research Centre for Law, Gender, and Sexuality at Westminster,  which has strong links to Centres of Law, Gender and Sexuality at the  universities of Keele and Kent at Canterbury.

Since  2002 Oliver has been a visiting lecturer at the Southern and Eastern African  Resource Centre for Women and Law (SEARCWL) which is based in Harare  at the University   of Zimbabwe (though it is  autonomous of UZ and has equally strong links with 8 other universities  throughout the region). He continues to teach a module on sexuality and law on  the LLM programme at SEARCWL.  From  2002-2008, he was also a visiting lecturer at the Summer Institute for the  Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. 

Oliver is currently on the  editorial board of the International  Journal of Human Rights, and is an Advisory Board Member for a number of  research projects, including “Social Surveys: homosexuality and identity in two  South African communities”, and the Leverhulme Project “Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliaments”.  He is  Vice-Chair and a founding member of the Charity FOTAC (Friends of the Treatment  Action Campaign – www.fotac.org) and from  2002-2008 was Deputy Chair of the Britain-Zimbabwe Society (www.britain-zimbabwe.org.uk)  which operates as a networking forum for academics doing research that relates  to Zimbabwe. 

Oliver  regularly acts as an expert witness to Immigration and Asylum Tribunals considering  applications for asylum from Zimbabweans on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Publications:

• Sexuality and  the Politics of Rights in Post-Colonial Southern Africa:  The Legacy of Venus Monstrosa Monograph to be  published by Glasshouse Press; forthcoming 2010.

• “Teaching  Gender, Sexuality, and the Law in Southern Africa: Locating Historical  Narratives and Adopting Conceptual Frameworks” in Women and Law in Southern Africa: Innovative Regional Approaches to  Teaching, Researching and Analysing Southern and Eastern African Resource  Centre for Women and Law, Harare, in press 2010.

•  “Blackmail in Zimbabwe: Troubling Narratives of  Sexuality and Human Rights” International  Journal of Human Rights 13(2 & 3) April 2009 pp 345-364

• “Playing  Politics with HIV” Public Service Review:  International Development Issue 10 (www.publicservice.co.uk) June 2008.

• “Gender,  Justice, and Human Rights in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe and South Africa”  in Heidensohn, F. (ed) Gender and  Justice: New Concepts and Approaches Collumpton: Willan Publishing: 2006

• “Ten White Men  Thirteen Years Later: The Changing Constitution of Masculinities in South Africa  1987-2000” in Van Zyl, M. and Steyn, M. (eds.) Performing Queer: Sexualities  in the New South Africa Cape Town; Kwela Books;  2005.

• “Introducing  Sexuality and Human Rights” in The Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law University of Georgia  State, USA; July 2005.

• Co-Editor with  Buss, D., Fletcher, R., Monk, D., and Monro, S. of Special Edition on “Gendered  Boundaries and Social Movements: Legal Negotiations of the Global and the  Local” of Social and Legal Studies: An International Journal  Vol.14(1) March 2005.

•  “(Dis)Continuities of Custom in Zimbabwe and South Africa: The Implications for  Gendered and Sexual Rights”  in Health  and Human Rights: An International Journal Vol. 7, no.2; Harvard School of  Public Health: July 2004; (pp.82-113)

• “The Invisible Presence of Homosexuality: Implications  for HIV/AIDS and Rights in Southern Africa” in Kalipeni, E., Craddock, S.,  Oppong, J.R., and Ghosh, J. (eds) HIV/AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology Blackwell Publishing: Oxford:  2004 (pp. 155-166)

• “Zimbabwean Law and the Production of a White Man’s  Disease” (reprint) in Holland, J., Weeks, J. and  Waites, M. (eds.) Sexualities and Society: A Reader Polity Press: Cambridge: 2003  pp.162-173.

• “Myths and Realities of African Sexuality” in African  Studies Review Vol. 44 (2) (pp.195-201) African Studies Association:  Sept 2001

• “Conscripts in Camp: Making Military Men” in African  Gender Institute Newsletter  Vol. 8,  July 2001, University   of Cape Town;  published online at http://web.uct.ac.za/org/agi/pubs/newsletters/vol8/camp.htm

• “The Importance of Being: Why Sex is so Important in Zimbabwe” in BZS Zimbabwe Review Issue 01/1,  February 2001, Britain-Zimbabwe Society, ISSN 1362-3168

• Contributing author to Rafter, N. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Women and Crime The  Oryx Press: Phoenix:  2000.

• “Constituting the Global Gay: Individual Subjectivity  and Sexuality in Southern Africa” in Stychin, C., and Herman, D. (eds.) Sexuality in the Legal Arena Athlone/University of Minnesota  Press: London/Minnesota 2000

• “Zimbabwean law and the Production of a White Man’s  Disease” Social and Legal Studies Vol. 6, No.4, (pp.471-492) December 1997 (Winner of  Socio-Legal Studies Association/ Dartmouth 1997 Socio-Legal Article Prize)

• “Zimbabwe:  venus monstrosa and ‘unnatural offences’” in West, D.J. and Green, R. Socio-Legal  Control of Homosexuality: A Multi-Nation Comparison Plenum: New York: 1997

• "Censuring Gender: Masculinity and the Definition  of Sexual Offences in Zimbabwe" in Conference Report on Masculinity and  Crime: Issues of Theory and Practice The Centre for Criminal Justice  Research, Brunel, The University of West London, 14‑15 September 1993.

• "Imprisonment in a Future South  Africa: A Consideration of the Freedom Charter's Demands" in Natal University  Law and Society Review Vol.2 (1987-89) pp.85-95 Oxford University Press: Cape Town: November 1990.

Papers/Lectures given by special  invitation:

•  “Sexualities  and Legalities” Mini-Plenary Speaker at Law  and Society Association Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, USA - 27-31 May, 2009
• “Law, Gender, and Sexuality; The making of a  Field” Participation in panel discussion hosted by Centre for Law, Gender, and Sexuality, University of Westminster,  6 March 2009.
• “Sexual Rights – From Marginal to Mainstream  and to What End? What can we learn from Zimbabwe  and South Africa?”  Guest Speaker at Samtoken 78 Lecture  Series, University of Iceland  (Reykjavik),  March 28, 2008.
• “Constitutions  in a Postcolonial Frame: The Indivisibility of Rights” Paper presented to Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality at University of Kent  at Canterbury,  31 January 2008.
• “Reflections in the Metropolitan Mirror: Post-Colonial legacies, claims to cultural  authenticity, and the different treatment of sexuality and gender in Zimbabwe  and South Africa” Paper presented at “Across Legal Cultures Workshop on  Post-Colonialism” hosted by Feminism and Legal Theory Project, Emory  University, Atlanta, USA – 10-11 September, 2004.
• “An Introduction to The Relationship between Sexuality  and Human Rights” Tulane University Centre for International Criminal Law, Amsterdam, 10 July 2004
• “The  Perils of Sex and the Panics of Race: Historical Continuities in Southern  African Sex Panics” Paper presented by special invitation at American  Anthropological Association Conference, Chicago,   USA, 21  November, 2003
• “Troubled  Narratives of Sexuality and Rights in Southern Africa” Columbia University  Seminar on Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Columbia University, USA, 18 November 2003
• “Deviance,  Sexuality and HIV in Southern Africa” Paper Presented to the Program for the  Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Human Rights, School of Public Health,  Columbia University, USA, 17 November 2003.
• Participant  at Roundtable discussion on “Reconfiguring Sexuality and Human Rights”  organised by Law and Policy Unit, Columbia University, 11-13 June 2003.
• “The  Importance of Sexuality in Realising Human Rights in Southern Africa”  Contribution to panel “Sexuality and Rights: Challenges, Questions, and Ways  Forward” organised by Professor Carole Vance, at the 16th World  Congress of Sexology, Havana, Cuba, March 11, 2003.
• “A  Contest between Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights? HIV/AIDS and  Access to Treatment in Zimbabwe”  Britain-Zimbabwe Society Annual General Meeting, Friend’s House, London, 23 November 2002.
• “Deviant  Identities and the Transformation of Social Policy” Gender and Social Policy  Seminar, Dept of Politics, Goldsmiths College, University   of London, 31 October  2002.
• “The  Sociology of Deviance: From Durkheim to Queer Theories and Back” Criminology  Seminar, Dept of Politics, Goldsmiths College, University   of London, 24 October  2002
• “Intersections  of Sexuality and HIV/AIDS”, Summer School  of Sexuality, Culture and Society, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, 8-11 July 2002
• “Introduction  to Theoretical Frameworks for Studying Sexuality and Gender” Summer School of  Sexuality, Culture and Society, University    of Amsterdam, Netherlands,  1-4 July 2002
• “A  Contest between Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights? HIV/AIDS and  Access to Treatment in South Africa”  Work in Progress Seminar Series, School  of Law, Keele University,  Staffordshire, 21 November 2001.
• “HIV/AIDS and the Contingency of Rights”  Centre for Research on Women, Barnard    College, New York, U.S.A., 15 November 2001.
• “Gay Rights, Activist Strategies and National  Politics in Zimbabwe” Gay  Pride Panel Discussion, Budapest Lesbian and Gay  Centre, Hungary  7 July 2001
• Invited  Participant in Activist/Academic Roundtable “Reconfiguring Sexuality and  Human Rights” Law and Policy Project, and Program for the Study of  Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights, School  of Public Health, Columbia University, U.S.A.,  9-13 June 2001.
• “Rights  Strategies for Fighting HIV in Southern Africa: The Role of Law and the Place  of Sexuality” Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human  Rights, School of Public Health, Columbia University, U.S.A., 16 April 2001
• “Sexuality,  Subjectivity, and Rights in Southern Africa” University Seminar – Institute of African  Studies, Columbia University,   New York, U.S.A.  28 November, 2000.
• “The Growing Significance of Sexuality in Southern Africa: A  Rights-oriented Analysis” University Seminar, Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender,  Health, and Human Rights, School of Public Health, Columbia University, U.S.A.,  1 November 2000.
• “Sexualities since  AIDS in Southern Africa” Summer Institute for Sexuality, Culture, and Society, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 2000.
• “Sexuality and  Crime” Crime, Justice and Society Course, University of Hertfordshire,  14 February 2000.
• “Sexuality and  Legal Subjectivity in Zimbabwe” Faculty of Law, University of Westminster 1 March 2000.
• "Local/Imported  and does it matter? The law, the origin, and the challenge of 'unnatural  offences' in Zimbabwe."  Centre for African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,  14 June 1999.
• "Venus  monstrosa: - patrolling the boundaries of race, culture and heterosexuality in  Zimbabwean law” in Queory Seminar  Series, School of Cultural and Community Studies, University of Sussex.  29 October 1997
• "Le mort de Diana: etait-il un accident, un assassinat, ou une  inevitabilité?' Paper  introducing criminological theory to Rotary Club de Fayance, France, Sept 1997.
• “Venus  Monstrosa and Unnatural Offences : The laws on sex between men in Zimbabwe” in  Sexuality, Identities, and Changing Values Workshop Series, School of  Education, Politics and Social Science, South  Bank University, 21 February, 1997.

Conference Papers:

• “Sexual Agency and The Loss of Innocence: A  Tale of Blackmail” at Contested  Innocence: Sexual Agency in Public and Private Space Annual Conference of  the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society  (IASSCS), Hanoi, Vietnam, 15-18 April 2009
• “Blackmail’s Eclipse of Innocence: How Sexual  Agency Frightens Human Rights” at Gender  Futures Conference, Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality, School of Law,  University of Westminster, London, 3-4 April 2009
• “Reconciling Customs with  Rights: Sexuality and Gender in National Constitutions and the African  Commission” Annual Conference of African  Studies Association, New York,  October 2007.
• “Reflections  in the Metropolitan Mirror: Post-Colonial  legacies, claims to cultural authenticity, and the different treatment of  sexuality and gender in Zimbabwe  and South Africa” Paper  presented at Critical Legal Conference, University of Westminster,  3 September 2004.
• “The ‘Perils’ Of  Nationalising Sex: Continuities Of Narrative In Zimbabwean Sex Panics” paper to  be presented at Annual Conference of the African Studies Association,  New Orleans, USA, November 11-13, 2004.
    “The  Perils of Sex and the Panics of Race: Historical Continuities in Southern  African Sex Panics” ESRC Workshop on Gender, Sexuality, and Law; School  of Law, University of Westminster,  13 March 2004
• “The Possibilities of  Post-Colonial Sex: Conceptual Innovation or Cultural Limitation?” at Workshop on  “Thinking  through Location: Gender And Sexuality Research Across Cultures” School of Law,  Keele University, 2-3 October 2003.
    “Secrecy and the  Embodiment of Vulnerability in Zimbabwe” Sex and Secrecy - Conference of  the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society, Witwatersrand University, South Africa,  22-25 June 2003.
    “Legislating  for Autonomy in Sexual Relations” Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, Nottingham,  Spring 2003.
• Member  of Organising Committee, and Chair of numerous panels – Gender,  Sexuality, and Law Conference, Keele University, Staffordshire, 28-30 June  2002
• “An  Intimate Constitution: “So how much does the scene change, eksê, and how much  is it just what you do and where your head is at?”” Law and Political Theory  Workshop,  The Law School,  Birkbeck College,  London, 15  March 2002
• “Contested  Rights and the Production of Sexual Subjects: Some Implications for Zimbabwe today” at African Studies Association  Conference, Houston, 17 November 2001.
• “Local Rights and the Legal Subject in a Global Context:  Getting Access to Treatment for HIV in Southern Africa” American Law and  Society Association Conference, Budapest,   Hungary, 5 July  2001
• “Local Rights and the Legal Subject in a Global Context:  Getting Access to Treatment for HIV” Conference on AIDS in Social Context University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 6 April 2001.
• “Rights,  Sexuality, and Legal Subjectivity in Southern Africa” American  Law and Society Association Conference, Miami,  27 May 2000.
• “Sexuality, Subjectivity and Zimbabwean Law” Law and  Anthropology conference, University   of Oxford,  5 November 1999.
• "The Use of CCTV in Private Space: a Study of  Police Custody Suites" British Criminology Conference John Moores  University, Liverpool  July 1999
• “Constituting the Global Gay: The Queer Origin of Labels  in Zimbabwe” at Socio-Legal Studies Association conference Keele University  19-21 June 1998; and at Southern African  Sexualities Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex,  24 June 1998.
• “The Dangers of Advocating Abstinence: HIV and Human  Rights in Zimbabwe” at BZS/ZUKAN conference on Community Responses to HIV in Southern Africa  Sheffield, 4  October 1997.
• “Blackmailing White Males: Extortion and Homophobia in Zimbabwe” at the Socio-Legal Studies  Association Annual Conference, University   of Cardiff 2-4 April 1997
• “Zimbabwean  law and the Production of a White Man’s Disease” at Legal Queeries conference, Lancaster University  22-24 September 1995;  and at First  Colloquium of Gay and Lesbian Studies in Southern Africa, University of  Cape Town, South  Africa, 19-21 October  1995.
• "The Censuring of Sexuality and Gender in Zimbabwe: A Look at some Moral Panics" at British Sociological Association  Annual Conference University of Lancashire,  28‑31 March 1994.
• "The  Construction and Censure of Gender through Sexual Offences" at workshop The Politics of Gender: Representation,  Identity, and Violence University   of Zimbabwe, 29 August  1992.