Personal information

human rights, truth commissions, international criminal trials, hate crimes
United States

Biography

Richard Ashby Wilson is the Gladstein Chair of Human Rights and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Law and Anthropology at UConn School of Law, and founding director of the Human Rights Institute at UConn. Wilson is a scholar of human rights and transitional justice who currently teaches courses on law and society, post-conflict justice, and an interdisciplinary graduate level course on the anthropology, history, law and philosophy of human rights.

He is the author or editor of 11 books on international human rights, humanitarianism, truth and reconciliation commissions and international criminal tribunals. He wrote the definitive ethnographic study of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2001). His book Writing History in International Criminal Trials was selected by Choice in 2012 as an “Outstanding Academic Title” in the law category. His latest book, Incitement On Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes (Cambridge University Press, 2017), explains why international criminal tribunals struggle to convict individuals for inciting speech and proposes a new model of prevention and punishment.

Having received his BSc. and Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Professor Wilson held full-time faculty positions at the Universities of Essex and Sussex, as well as visiting professorships at the Free University-Amsterdam, University of Oslo, the New School for Social Research, and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has held prestigious fellowships from the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

He is committed to engaged scholarship that advances civil rights and human rights in the United States and worldwide. He previously served as Chair of the Connecticut State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was appointed in 2021 by the governor of the state of Connecticut to the Hate Crimes Advisory Council that recommends new measures to combat hate crimes in the state. He serves on the international advisory boards of the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, the journal Human Rights Quarterly and The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. He has a regularly media presence and has published articles in The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

Wilson is presently writing a sociolegal account of new efforts to report, investigate and prosecute hate crimes in the United States.

Activities

Employment (3)

University of Connecticut School of Law: Hartford, CT, US

2003 to present | Professor of Law and Anthropology (Law)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

University of Sussex: Brighton, Brighton and Hove, GB

1994 to 2003 | Professor in Social Anthropology (Anthropology)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

University of Essex: Colchester, Essex, GB

1990-09-30 to 1994-09-30 | Assistant Professor (Sociology and Latin American Studies)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Education and qualifications (3)

The London School of Economics and Political Science Department of Economics: London, London, GB

1986 to 1990 | PhD
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

London School of Economics Department of Economics: London, London, GB

1984 to 1986 | BSc Econ
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Johns Hopkins University: Baltimore, MD, US

1982 to 1984 (Natural sciences)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Professional activities (3)

Russell Sage Foundation: NY, NY, US

2017-09-01 | Fellowship
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Institute for Advanced Study: Princeton, NJ, US

2014 to 2015 | Member of School of Social Sciences (School of Social Sciences)
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

National Endowment for the Humanities: DC, DC, US

2010 | Fellowship
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Works (50 of 71)

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Accountability, affect, and the political unconscious: A dialogue

PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review
2023-05 | Journal article
Contributors: John Borneman; Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Dangerous Speech: A Cross-Cultural Study of Dehumanization and Revenge

Journal of Cognition and Culture
2023-04-03 | Journal article
Contributors: Jordan Kiper; Christine Lillie; Richard A. Wilson; Brock Knapp; Yeongjin Gwon; Lasana T. Harris
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Irreconciliation, reciprocity, and social change (Afterword 1)

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
2022 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-85129017961

Part of ISSN: 14679655 13590987
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

“The Anti-Human Rights Machine"

Human Rights Quarterly
2022-11-04 | Journal article
Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Hate Speech on Social Media

Connecticut Law Review
2021-03-03 | Journal article | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson; Molly K. Land
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

'The Life of the Law Has Not Been Logic; It Has Been Experience:' International Legal Ethnography and the New Legal Realism

SSRN
2020 | Other
EID:

2-s2.0-85112076303

Part of ISSN: 15565068
Contributors: Meierhenrich, J.; Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Incitement in an Era of Populism: Updating Brandenburg After Charlottesville.

Journal of Law and Public Affairs
2020 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Justice after Atrocity

SSRN
2020 | Other
EID:

2-s2.0-85110298252

Part of ISSN: 15565068
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

How Propaganda Works: Nationalism, Revenge and Empathy in Serbia

Journal of Cognition and Culture
2020-12-11 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1567-7095
Part of ISSN: 1568-5373
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Justice After Atrocity

The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology
2020-10-08 | Book chapter
Part of ISBN: 9780198840534
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Invisible Threats: Online Hate Speech against Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala

SSRN
2019 | Other
EID:

2-s2.0-85112824063

Part of ISSN: 15565068
Contributors: Abbas, M.; Al-Wohaibi, E.; Donovan, J.; Hale, E.; Marugg, T.; Sykes, J.; Land, M.K.; Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Propaganda experts in the international criminal courtroom

Propaganda and International Criminal Law: From Cognition to Criminality
2019 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-85104394723

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Anthropological publics, public anthropology an AAA Annual Meeting roundtable edited, referenced, and footnoted by Sindre Bangstad, kifo (institute for church, religion and worldview research)

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
2017 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-85020711192

Part of ISSN: 20491115
Contributors: Bangstad, S.; Ahmad, I.; Bowen, J.R.; Feldman, I.; Haugerud, A.; Price, D.H.; Wilson, R.A.; Fernando, M.L.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Propaganda on trial: Structural fragility and the epistemology of international legal institutions

Palaces of Hope: The Anthropology of Global Organizations
2017 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-85035085468

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Propaganda on Trial: Structural Fragility and the Epistemology of International Legal Institutions.

SSRN
2017 | Other
EID:

2-s2.0-85117554960

Part of ISSN: 15565068
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Incitement on Trial

Cambridge University Press
2017-08-18 | Book
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

When law and social science diverge: Causation in the international law of incitement to commit genocide

The New Legal Realism
2016 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-85048107793

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Expert evidence on trial: Social researchers in the international criminal courtroom

American Ethnologist
2016-11 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0094-0496
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Propaganda and History in International Criminal Trials

Journal of International Criminal Justice
2016-07-16 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Foreword

Necropolitics: Mass Graves and Exhumations in the Age of Human Rights
2015 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-85085405344

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Inciting Genocide With Words

Michigan Journal of International Law
2015 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

Gangster’s Paradise? Framing Crime in Sub-Saharan Africa

Humanity
2013 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1353/hum.2013.0024

Part of ISSN:

2151-4372

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Interfaces

The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology
2012 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-84950145957

Contributors: Shore, C.; Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Introduction – Anthropology’s Interdisciplinary Connections

The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology
2012 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-84950107130

Contributors: Shore, C.; Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

The SAGE handbook of social anthropology

The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology
2012 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-84950104132

Contributors: Fardon, R.; Harris, O.; Marchand, T.H.J.; Nuttall, M.; Shore, C.; Strang, V.; Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Writing History in International Criminal Trials

2011 | Book
DOI:

10.1017/cbo9780511973505

ISBN:

9780511973505

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Through the Lens of International Criminal Law: Comprehending the African Context of Crimes at the International Criminal Court

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
2011-04 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1111/j.1754-9469.2011.01102.x

Part of ISSN:

1473-8481

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Human Rights in the United States, or Are Americans Human?

Anthropology News
2011-01 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1111/j.1556-3502.2011.52123.x

Part of ISSN:

1541-6151

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Humanitarianism and Suffering

Perspectives on Politics
2010-12 | Book
Part of ISSN: 1537-5927
Part of ISSN: 1541-0986
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson

When Humanity Sits in Judgment

In the Name of Humanity
2010-11-09 | Other
DOI:

10.1215/9780822393221-002

ISBN:

9780822393221

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Cultural relativism 2.0: Commentary

Current Anthropology
2008 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-48749125363

Part of ISSN: 00113204
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Human Rights

A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics
2008 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-84889383560

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Conclusion Tyrannosaurus lex: the anthropology of human rights and transnational law

The Practice of Human Rights
2007 | Other
DOI:

10.1017/cbo9780511819193.014

ISBN:

9780511819193

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson; Mark Goodale; Sally Engle Merry
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Conclusion: Tyrannosaurus lex: The anthropology of human rights and transnationallaw

The Practice of Human Rights: Tracking Law Between the Global and the Local
2007 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-84926992503

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Humanity's Histories Evaluating the Historical Accounts of International Tribunals and Truth Commissions

Politix
2007 | Journal article
DOI:

10.3917/pox.080.0031

Part of ISSN:

0295-2319

Contributors: Richard Ashby WILSON
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Human Rights

A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics
2007-01-01 | Other
DOI:

10.1002/9780470693681.ch15

ISBN:

9780470693681

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Toward a critical anthropology of human rights

Current Anthropology
2006 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-33746503039

Part of ISSN: 00113204
Contributors: Goodale, M.; Baxi, U.; Cowan, J.; Dahre, U.J.; Eriksen, T.H.; Likosky, M.B.; Mooberry, J.E.; Messer, E.; Riles, A.; Schirmer, J. et al.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

The Moral Imperialism Critique Is Not Valid

Anthropology News
2006-09 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1525/an.2006.47.9.7.1

Part of ISSN:

0098-1605

Contributors: Richard A Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Afterword to "Anthropology and Human Rights in a New Key": The Social Life of Human Rights

American Anthropologist
2006-03 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1525/aa.2006.108.1.77

Part of ISSN:

0002-7294

Contributors: RICHARD ASHBY WILSON
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Constitutional change: A note by the bedside

Political Quarterly
2005 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-21644463269

Part of ISSN: 00323179
Contributors: Wilson, R.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Human rights in the war on terror

Human Rights in the War on Terror
2005 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-84928636405

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Human rights in the ‘war on terror’

Human Rights in the War on Terror
2005 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-84898023107

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Introduction

Human Rights in the ‘War on Terror’
2005 | Other
DOI:

10.1017/cbo9780511511288.002

ISBN:

9780511511288

Contributors: Richard Ashby Wilson; Richard Ashby Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Is the legalization of human rights really the problem? Genocide in the guatemalan historical clarification commission

The Legalization of Human Rights: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Rights Law
2005 | Book chapter
EID:

2-s2.0-84904833372

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Judging history: The historical record of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Human Rights Quarterly
2005 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-27644562692

Part of ISSN: 02750392
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Towards an open debate on the anthropology of genocide

Anthropological Theory
2005 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-34247666789

Part of ISSN: 14634996 17412641
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

The trouble with truth: Anthropology's epistemological hypochondria

Anthropology Today
2004-10 | Journal article
DOI:

10.1111/j.0268-540x.2004.00294.x

Part of ISSN:

0268-540X

Contributors: Richard A. Wilson
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Crossref Metadata Search

Anthropological studies of national reconciliation processes

Anthropological Theory
2003 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-27944442326

Part of ISSN: 14634996 17412641
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Introduction: The social life of rights

Human Rights in Global Perspective: Anthropological Studies of Rights, Claims and Entitlements
2003 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-36348990234

Contributors: Wilson, R.A.; Mitchell, J.P.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier

Justice and retribution in postconflict settings

Public Culture
2003 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-0038345643

Part of ISSN: 08992363
Contributors: Wilson, R.A.
Source: Self-asserted source
Richard Ashby Wilson via Scopus - Elsevier
Items per page:
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