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Susan F. Hirsch

Susan F. Hirsch
Professor of Conflict Resolution and Anthropology

Ph.D., Anthropology, 1990, Duke University
Thesis: Gender and Disputing, Insurgent Voices in Coastal Kenyan Muslim Courts
B.A., Anthropology, 1982, Yale College
Magna cum laude with distinction in Anthropology.

Biography

Susan F. Hirsch, a cultural anthropologist, is a Professor in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University and Chair of S-CAR’s Faculty Board. From 2009 to present, she has been affiliated in Mason’s Women and Gender Studies Program. Professor Hirsch is the Principal Investigator for the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Project funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), 2011-2013. The project aims at linking theory to practice through pedagogical initiatives, such as experiential learning activities and service learning intensive programs. She is also a recepient of the Point of View Working Group Grant that aims at promoting better learning through practice, 2010-2011. Her current major research and book project (with Dr. Frank Dukes) focuses on conceptualizing stakeholders in the conflict over surface mining in Appalachia.

Professor Hirsch’s most recent book, titled In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief and a Victim’s Quest for Justice (Princeton University Press, 2006) is a reflexive ethnography of her experiences of the 1998 East African Embassy bombings and the subsequent trial of four defendants. As a bombings survivor and a widow of a victim, Professor Hirsch began attending the embassy bombings trial in New York City in January, 2001, and over the next six months came to study it as a legal anthropologist. The volume highlights the difficulties experienced by a terror victim who opposes the death penalty yet seeks to participate in a capital trial



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Awards and Honors
Vernon and Minnie Lynch Chair
Susan F. Hirsch is named the Vernon and Minnie Lynch Chair in Conflict Resolution.
Appointed Advisor to a European Research Council Project
Susan Hirsch was appointed as Advisor to a European Research Council Project titled “Cultural Expertise” and commented at a project workshop held at Oxford University in December 2016.
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2009
Titlesort icon Semester
Analyzes theoretical basis undergirding methods of research in conflict resolution. Explores how theory is built...
Continuation of steps in research process to prepare dissertation and implement published research. Builds on CONF 811 by examining qualitative...
Understanding human conflict requires knowledge of human behavior, motivation, and perception. Reviews and critically...
Contrasts legal processes and institutions with alternative approaches to dispute resolution. Defines and...
In-depth field study of ongoing conflict situations, and design and delivery of intervention processes to manage or...
Examines major theories of conflict causation and motivation. Emphasizes need for theories to inform processes of conflict resolution. Weaves...
Introduces field of conflict analysis and resolution. Examines definitions of conflict and diverse views of its...
Capstone course in which students reflect on what they have learned, integrating knowledge from course work and...
Examines selected topics relating to analysis or resolution of conflict. Topics vary but may include historical...
Brief history of field, survey of key conflict resolution themes and theories, and intervention methods. Overview includes general factors of...
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December 08, 2016
This briefing examines an initiative to create a network focused on empowering migrant-led groups in Malta, a 316-km2 island nation of 425,000 residents in the central Mediterranean. Called the Third Country National Support Network Malta (TSN Malta) (www.tsnmalta...
Category: Journal Article
June 21, 2016
This article examines the utility of experiential learning activities (ELAs) for teaching about global complexity and conflict resolution in higher education classrooms. It focuses on two key concepts: the nexus between global and local and the precarity...
Category: Journal Article
September 03, 2015
Category: Book Chapter
September 02, 2014
Residents of the Appalachian coalfields share a history and heritage, deep connections to the land, and pride in their own resilience. These same residents are also profoundly divided over the practice of mountaintop mining—that is, the removal and disposal...
Category: Book
March 26, 2012
In Chapter 12, “Civilians under the law: Inequality, universalisms, and intersectionality as intervention,” Susan F. Hirsch examines the tacit assumptions underpinning the category of civilians in war as constructed by the architects of international...
Category: Book Chapter
2011
The expansion of international law to address war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide has meant that law is increasingly an available form of intervention in conflict and post-conflict situations. Some of the new legal instruments, such as the...
Category: Book Chapter
2009
When I visited Kenya in August 2008 many people expressed their high hopes for Barack Obama in the upcoming election and for close U.S./Kenyan relations afterwards. But they also spoke about their fears. Many were convinced that Obama could be attacked or killed...
Category: Papers & Reports
2008
On August 7, 1998, bombs exploded at two United States embassies in East Africa. American anthropologist Susan Hirsch and her husband Jamal, a Kenyan, were among the thousands of victims, and Jamal died. From there, Hirsch went on to face devastating grief with...
Category: Book
September, 2008
Category: Journal Article
January 2006
Category: Journal Article
January 01, 2003
Campaigns against domestic violence and projects designed to reform laws are increasingly part of the development initiatives undertaken in African nations. Such projects are subject to standard criticisms of development (e. g., its tendency to enhance the power...
Category: Journal Article
August 01, 2001
Susan Hirsch offers a much needed ethnographic rather than text-based view of gender and a Muslim legal-ethical system. Her interesting book on the gendered nature of Muslim legal disputes in the Kenyan cities of Mombasa and Malindi opens with the familiar claim...
Category: Journal Article
March 01, 2000
The take-home message of Conley and O'Barr's volume is quite the opposite of one interpretation of the title. Far from being "'just words." legal discourse is speech that matters; it has consequences for the professionals and laypeople who produce it....
Category: Journal Article
August 15, 1998
Based on field research and court testimony, Hirsch's book debunks the conventional view that women are powerless under Islamic law and challenges the dichotomies through which Islam and gender relations are currently understood.
Category: Book
July 18, 1994
Contested States explores how men and women invoke law in their struggles to resist gender, racial, ethnic, religious and class-based domination. The essays in this collection vividly demonstrate people's capacity to rework the content, meaning and processes of...
Category: Book
1994
This article compares U. S. and Kenyan media representations of an incident at a Kenyan boarding school during which many young women were raped and several killed by their male schoolmates. The author's analysis of print media accounts reveals that how the press...
Category: Journal Article
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April 02, 2008
Susan Hirsch, professor at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, calls for a fair trial for Ahmad
Category: Television Appearances

November 01, 2007
Last January, American C-140 planes launched attacks on southern Somalia killing not only Islamic Courts leaders in
Category: Newsletter Article

March 01, 2007
Because Susan Hirsch is a social scientist who has studied abroad, former state Rep. John Dunn wanted her opinion of
Category: Newspaper Article

July 01, 2006
Category: Radio Broadcast

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Extractive Industries and Human Rights in PeruInstitute for Conflict Analysis and ResolutionGeorge Mason UniversityTruland Building, Arlington campus, Room 555 Tuesday, March 29, 8:00 pm
March 29, 2011
The James Madison University Justice Studies Department presents:Dr Susan HirschProfessor, Institute for Confict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason UniversityAuthor: In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim's Quest for JusticeWinner of the Law & Society
September 29, 2010
This study seeks to investigate to what extent international human rights advocates and conflict resolvers are skilled and equipped to deal with situations such as the state-run gender violence which has led to a protracted conflict in a country like Iran. This project aims to first contextualize
July 22, 2010
In celebration of the 5-Year Anniversary of ICAR’s Undergraduate Program, a conference will convene to discuss the plights and prospects of youth in post-conflict settings. Much of the literature on activities required to build peace and justice in post-conflict settings explores adult needs
October 30, 2009
In celebration of the 5-Year Anniversary of ICAR’s Undergraduate Program, a conference will convene to discuss the plights and prospects of youth in post-conflict settings. Much of the literature on activities required to build peace and justice in post-conflict settings explores adult needs
October 30, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009 CONF 812 Student Presentations 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Truland Building, Room 555 Contact: Susan Hirsch, [email protected]
May 04, 2009
This dissertation attempts to understand the meta-narratives of justice operating within the Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha, Sahayak Gana (TBMSG), a Dalit Buddhist social movement active in Maharashtra, India.  The movement, a vestige of Dr. B.R.
April 10, 2009
The devastation of civilians in contemporary conflicts represents a humanitarian disaster of stunning proportions. The current ratio of military to civilian casualties is approximately one to eight while 90% of wars are civil wars in the new century. Such devastation is systematically embedded
March 27, 2009
The Promises of Justice after Extreme Violence Susan Hirsch, Director of the undergraduate Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution programJustice meted out in domestic courts is assumed to promote social healing and quell the desire for revenge felt by victims of violence. Mass atrocity,
March 17, 2008
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Susan Hirsch, Thanos Gatsias, and Marcelle Bugre (MS Malta dual degree alum) organized an event titled Leading Together: Supporting Each Other as Women for Developing Leadership which brought together 35 third country national and migrant women living in Malta for a facilitated discussion on
March 16, 2017
Many scholar-practitioners have studied gender mainstreaming as a policy tool to help achieve gender equality, but their work does not consider how the related gender equality change and its implementation impact men at a socio-psychological level in male-dominated societies. The impact of such a
April 11, 2012
The Virginia Law Foundation and Virginia Holocaust Museum hosted The Law Day 2010 Conference on Civil Discourse. One of the presenters is Susan F. Hirsch, Ph.D., Legal Anthropologist Professor, and Director, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University.
April 30, 2010
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703-993-9407
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Location Name:Arlington
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Fax Number: 703-993-1302
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