Vanja Hamzić
Email: vanja.hamzic@kcl.ac.uk, vanja.hamzic@gmail.com
Profile
Vanja holds two First Class Honours degrees from the University of Sarajevo and an LLM with Distinction degree in Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham. At School of Law, King's College London, he teaches weekly LLB seminars in human rights law.
Vanja is a founding member of Muslim Advocacy Initiative. He has researched and worked with the collectives challenging the mainstream interpretations of human sexual/gender experience predominantly in Muslim-majority states. In his native Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has served as the President of Logos, an inter-faith non-patriarchal organisation, and the Editor in Chief of Abraham, a monthly magazine for culture of inter-religious dialogue.
Vanja’s doctoral research is supervised by Professor Robert Wintemute and Professor Penny Green of School of Law, King’s College London. Professor Janet Halley of Harvard Law School is Vanja’s academic advisor
Research
Vanja’s academic research primarily revolves around the legal and political conditionality of human subjectivity formation in Indonesia and Pakistan, while his broader interests span social and legal theory, human rights, philosophy and anthropology.
Vanja’s doctoral research comprises a legal anthropological critique of international human rights law and Muslim legal traditions relating to human sexual and gender diversity.
Recent Publications
Vanja has extensively published in the domains of legal and social theory, human rights, postcoloniality, law and global governance and legal anthropology. His recent publications include:
Hamzić, Vanja, 'The Case of "Queer Muslims": Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Human Rights Law and Muslim Legal and Social Ethos' (2011) 11(2) Human Rights Law Review 237-274
Hamzić, Vanja & Mir-Hosseini, Ziba, Control and Sexuality: The Revival of Zina Laws in Muslim Contexts (London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws, 2010) [translations into Arabic, Indonesian and Urdu published in 2011]
Bartlett, Peter & Hamzić, Vanja, Reforming Mental Disability Law in Africa: Practical Tips and Suggestions (Nottingham: University of Nottingham, 2010)
For a detailed list of presentations and publications, please download Vanja's curriculum vitae.
Teaching & Employment Interests
Vanja teaches an LLB class in human rights law at School of Law, King’s College London. His other teaching interests include social and legal theory, Islamic legal tradition, criminal law, public international law and legal anthropology.
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