Professor Stewart Motha

In addition to his current research on law and nature, Professor Motha has published widely on issues of postcolonial justice; law, memory, and violence; and theories of sovereignty. This research has been articulated through discourses of law, philosophy, and aesthetics. His most recent book, Archiving Sovereignty: Law, History, Violence (Michigan University Press) was published in 2018. 

In 2020, he launched a podcast series called Countersign. Stewart and guests discuss books, films, and other materials from across disciplines to consider new perspectives on law, difference, and being in common. He lectures on Foundations of Property; Law, History, and Political Violence; Law, Nature, and Planetary Justice. 

Prof. Motha was Executive Dean of Birkbeck Law School, 2016-22; and Managing Editor of Law & Critique, 2015-2020. In 2023, he held the John Hinkley Visiting Professorship at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He has also held visiting fellowships at Sydney Law School, Melbourne Law School, and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). Prior to joining Birkbeck in 2012, he taught at Kent Law School. He has also taught Law in Australia, and was an Associate to the Hon. Justice Margaret Beazley - Judge of the Federal Court of Australia; Case Manager of the Native Title Unit, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc., South Australia; and a Consultant to the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action. 

Prof Motha is committed to engaging the wider public on issues of violence and commonality. He has extensive experience working with questions of sovereignty, and the rights of indigenous peoples.