Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller

Background

I completed my BA in political science at Reed College (1979) and my MA and PhD at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1991), with emphasis in public law, comparative politics, and Marxist theory. Prior to graduate school, I had the opportunity to live and teach in West Africa, and subsequently I taught at Reed College prior to joining the faculty at UH.

Education

• PhD, Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991
• MA, Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983
• BA, Political Science, Reed College, 1979

Courses

• POLS 110: Introduction to Political Science
• POLS 374: Law, Politics and Society
• POLS 375: Constitutional Law I: Institutional Power
• POLS 376: Constitutional Law II: Rights and Liberties
• POLS 377: Topics in Law and Politics
• POLS 385: American Politics
• POLS 406: Senior Seminar in Political Science
• POLS 600: Scope and Methods of Political Science
• POLS 610: Political Theory and Analysis
• POLS 660: Public Law and Judicial Systems
• POLS 670: Introduction to Public Policy
• POLS 710: Seminar: Political Thought
• POLS 770: Seminar: Public Policy

Research

I am interested in many dimensions of legal theory and jurisprudence. My research has generally focused on forms of governance created in opposition to rights and law including unions’ boycotts of labor law, conservatives’ resistance to same-sex marriage and sexual civil rights, and Native Hawaiian opposition to federal recognition. I have also published more philosophically-oriented work on nocturnal legality, the legal and political implications of Catherine Malabou’s concept of plasticité, and Native Hawaiian ontology as critique of American colonial legality (with Noenoe Silva). My new book, Law by Night (Duke University Press, 2023), explores the significance of night and darkness for understanding law’s perpetuation of social inequalities including race, gender, houselessness, and colonial subordination. I am also the author of The Limits to Union: Same-sex Marriage and the Politics of Civil Rights (University of Michigan Press, 2004), and Plastic Materialities: Politics, Legality, and Metamorphosis in the Work of Catherine Malabou (Duke University Press, 2015; with Brenna Bhandar). I am the co-editor of a book series, Global and Insurgent Legalities at Duke University Press, and former co-editor of The Law & Society Review. I serve on the Editorial Board of Studies in Law, Politics and Society and International Editorial Board of Social and Legal Studies.