Dr Nora Jaber
Lecturer in Law
Overview
Dr Nora Jaber is a Lecturer in Law. She is also an affiliate of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
Nora's research is socio-legal. It centres primarily on the role of International Human Rights Law in achieving gender justice in non-Western contexts, with a focus on women's rights in the Middle East. Nora's reearch also interrogates the relationship between law and social justice more broadly and is interested in the implications of 'juridifying' political struggles for justice.
Nora holds an LLB from King' College London, an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Law from King's College London. Nora's doctoral thesis, titled 'Women, International Law, and the State: A Critical Analysis of Saudi Women's Petitions for Reform', was awarded the 2022 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize for best dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities. She is currently working on a monograph based on her thesis.
Nora currently teaches Criminal Law and Constitutional and Administrative Law. Previously, she has taught International Human Rights Law at LLM level and as well as undergraduate modules on politics and gender in the Middle East.
Research
Dr Nora Jaber's work is socio-legal and interdisciplinary, engaging with law, political economy, and Middle East studies. Nora's research examines the role and limitations of International human rights law ('IHRL') in promoting gender justice in non-Western contexts, with a focus on Arab and Islamic contexts. Her work builds on critical legal scholarship, including TWAIL and feminist theory and captures and centres non-Western/non-liberal rights discourses and epistemologies that are largely overlooked in legal scholarship.
Nora is currently working on a monograph based on her award-winning (BRISMES 2022) doctoral thesis, which assessed women’s rights advocates’ engagement with international law in calling for gender reform in Saudi Arabia. The project evaluates the significance, utility, and suitability of internationa law as a tool towards the achievement of domestic legal reform, especially when analysed in relation to alternative local normative and legal frameworks.
With funding from SLSA and the University of Exeter, Nora is currently establishing a collaborative research network on the 'juridfication of justice' which brings together scholars whose work interrogates the relationship between law and social justice and the ways in which law strengthens and limits political struggles for justice.
Research group links
- Centre for Middle East Politics
- College of Social Sciences and International Studies
- Human Rights and Democracy Forum
- Law School
- Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Supervision
Nora is currently supervising several PhD students whose work focuses on topics including international law, human rights, decolonial/postcolonial theory, feminist theory, islamic law, the Middle East. She is open to considering supervisees whose work relates to her broad area of expertise and interest.
External impact and engagement
Nora regularly delivers presentations about her research to various academic and non-academic audiences, including at academic conferences, before the European Parliament, and as part of Widening Participation programmes in the UK.
