Anna High

Anna’s primary research interests are Chinese, Evidence and Criminal Law. She is particularly interested in how the law protects vulnerable populations, and the concepts of consent and coercion in the context of sexual violence. Prior to joining the faculty in 2017, Anna was Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence and Luce Postdoctoral Fellow at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she taught criminal law and Chinese law. She has also taught comparative human rights, Asian law, EU law and criminal law at Marquette University Law School as Visiting Assistant Professor. She completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar (Queensland & Magdalen 2008). Her recently published book, Non-governmental orphan relief in China: Law, policy and practice (Routledge 2019), examines the negotiated existence of unregistered child welfare NGOs in China and their interactions with the local state.

1. Human dignity and sexual violence: what is the meaning and function of the concept of dignity in sexual violence law? Is there an emerging consensus on the conception of dignity at stake when it comes to criminal sexual offending? How are notions of dignity, autonomy and equality deployed in feminist theory and judicial discourse on sexual violence? What are the possible insights/implications of “sexual dignity” as applied by judges for criminal law/procedure and for dignity discourse more broadly?
    
2. How are “dignity” and possible related te reo Māori concepts (mana, mauri, tapu) deployed in New Zealand legal texts and judicial decision-making?