How do U.S. prosecutors present the sex offender as a subject of punishment, rehabilitation and discipline during sentencing arguments? This talk analyzes the rhetorical strategy of characterizing sex offenders as non-human animals, problematizing how these utterances intersect with racializing discourses around black male sexuality.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Sameena Mulla is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Marquette University. Her book, The Violence of Care: Rape Victims, Forensic Nurses and Sexual Assault Interventions (2014), is published by New York University Press. In 2013, she received Marquette University’s Way Klingler Young Scholar Award for excellence in research. Her current collaborative research project examines cultural narratives and expertise within U.S. sexual assault adjudication, and is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Law and Social Science Program.

This event is co-sponsored by the Faculty of Public Affairs, the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies - Human Rights, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.