LawGov Research Carnival #1: Dr Sophie Doherty
Dr Sophie Doherty is an Assistant Professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Her research is primarily concerned with justice, law and the humanities, in particular feminist jurisprudence, law and art. To explore these themes, Dr Doherty uses a multidisciplinary and cross jurisdictional lens, informed by feminist scholarship and practice.
In 2020, Dr Doherty’s thesis, ‘Visualising Justice: Sexual Violence Law and Art’, completed at Durham University under the supervision of Professor Clare McGlynn QC Hon, was passed unconditionally. This research provides an original and timely contribution to conceptualisations of justice for victim-survivors of sexual violence. Dr Doherty used an innovative interdisciplinary and feminist methodology to address this gap. She asked: how can an analysis of feminist activist visual art practice on the theme of sexual violence help to develop understandings of what justice means for victim-survivors of sexual violence?
Using a case study method, drawing on the work of Suzanne Lacy and Elisa Iannacone, and a semi-structured interview with Iannacone, Dr Doherty developed ‘justice through expression’ as an innovative justice process through which victim-survivors may achieve justice interests. Dr Doherty is currently working on converting her thesis into a monograph.
Dr Doherty is also working on two journal articles relating to her academic work completed at Queen’s University and Durham University. The first article explores Artemisia Gentileschi’s art from a feminist legal perspective to uncover the intersection between rape myths in law and in art, while the second introduces Dr Doherty’s concept of ‘justice through expression.’
Alongside these articles, Dr Doherty is completing two co-authored papers with Dr Benjamin Thorne, and Dr Marcos Dias. Dr Thorne and Dr Doherty’s paper explore the themes of memory, justice, and sexual violence through an analysis of Alketa Xhafa-Mripa’s ‘Thinking of You’ (2015) installation. Dr Dias and Dr Doherty’s paper explores urban space, geo-politics, and Brexit issues through the collaborative art project ‘Across and In-Between’ (2018).
Dr Doherty has recently published several pieces, including:
- Doherty S, ‘Exhibition review: a re?ection on Ruth Maxwell’s Not Consent exhibition as a method of challenging rape myths in Ireland’ (2020) 14(2) Law and Humanities 273.
- [invited] Doherty S, ‘“Are there still no great women artists?” A feminist response to Desmond Manderson’s Danse Macabre’ – (2020) 3 Etica & Politica 437.
- [invited] Doherty S ‘Book Review- Desmond Manderson, Danse Macabre: Temporalities of Law in the Visual Arts’ (2021) 33(1) Law and Literature 159.
- Doherty S, ‘How artist Artemisia Gentileschi created her own #MeToo moment’, RTE Brainstorm 2020.
Dr Doherty is keen to collaborate with victim-survivors, academics, artists, and stakeholders to build a network dedicated to those working, and interested in Feminism, Law and the Humanities. She can be contacted at Sophie.Doherty@dcu.ie
Twitter: @SophieMDoherty
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-doherty/
DCU Profile: /lawandgovernment/people/sophie-doherty?