Staff profile

Dr Nicola Henry

Senior Lecturer

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Social Sciences

MB 480, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BA (Hons-Canty), MA (Canty), PhD (Melbourne).

Area of study

Legal Studies

Brief profile

Nicola Henry is a Senior Lecturer in Legal Studies at La Trobe University. She teaches in the areas of discrimination, human rights, social justice, transitional justice and international criminal law. Nicola adopts an interdisciplinary, socio-legal approach to her teaching and research. She has written on a wide range of issues, with specific focus on violence against women, collective memory, law and historical justice. Her publications have largely been on sexual violence, and include an article that won the Best Article Award in 2010 for Violence Against Women, and her first book, War and Rape: Law, Memory and Justice (2011: Routledge). Nicola has also written on a wide range of political, social and environmental issues for the Australian Collaboration website.

From 2013-15, Nicola will be working as a Chief Investigator on an ARC project with Dr Anastasia Powell, titled “Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence and Harassment: Violence against Women in Cyberspace and the Implications for Legislative and Policy Reform”. Anastasia and Nicola are the co-coordinators of the Violence and Discrimination Against Women Research Network (VDAWnet).

Research interests

Gender, Culture, Sexuality

- Anti-discrimination law

- Sexual violence and harrassment

Human Rights and Justice Issues

- Climate change

- Democratic reform

Law and Society

- Collective memory and the law

- Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity

- Trauma, identity and law

- Wartime sexual violence

Social Studies in Science and Technology

- Technology facilitated sexual violence and harrassment

Teaching units

  • LST2/3DAL - Discrimination and the Law.
  • LST2/3LSJ - Law, Rights and Social Justice.
  • LST2LJP - Law, Justice and Power.
  • LST3CAH – Crimes Against Humanity.

Recent publications

 Books

  • Henry, N. (2011) War and Rape: Law, Memory and Justice, London/New York: Routledge.

 Refereed Journal Articles

  • Henry, N. (forthcoming, 2013) ‘Memory of an Injustice: The “Comfort Women” and the Legacy of the Tokyo Trial’, Asian Studies Review (ed. Vera Mackie).
  • Flynn, A. & Henry, N. (2012) ‘Disputing Consent: The Role of Jury Directions in Victoria’, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 24(2), 167-184.
  • Henry, N. (2010) ‘The Impossibility of Bearing Witness: Wartime Rape and the Promise of Justice’, Violence against Women, 16(1),1098–1119.
  • Henry, N. (2009) ‘Witness to Rape: The Limits and Potential of International War Crimes Trials for Victims of Wartime Sexual Violence’, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 3(1), 114–134.
  • Henry, N., Ward, T., & Hirshberg, M. (2004) ‘A Multifactorial Model of Wartime Rape’, Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9(5), 535–562.

Book Chapters

  • Henry, N. (2011) ‘Silence as Collective Memory: Sexual Violence and the Tokyo Trial’, in Yuki Tanaka, Tim McCormack & Gerry Simpson (eds), Beyond Victor’s Justice? The Tokyo War Crimes Trial Revisited, Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, pp.263–282.
  • Henry, N. (2007) ‘Turning the Tide: Solutions to Australia’s Environmental Crisis’, in John Langmore, To Firmer Ground: Restoring Hope in Australia, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, pp.54–86.
  • Henry, N. (2007) ‘Overcoming Injustice: Practical and Symbolic Reconciliation for Indigenous Australians’, in John Langmore, To Firmer Ground: Restoring Hope in Australia, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, pp.45–53.

Encyclopedia Entries

  • Henry, N. 2012) ‘Australia’, in Lavinia Stan & Nadya Nedelsky, The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice, Cambridge University Press, pp.26-33.
  • Henry, N. (forthcoming, 2012) ‘National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families’, in Lavinia Stan & Nadya Nedelsky, The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice, Cambridge University Press, pp.312-317.
  • Henry, N. (2012) ‘Conspiracy of Silence’, in Lavinia Stan & Nadya Nedelsky, The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice, Cambridge University Press.

Public Essays

  • Yencken, D., & Henry, N. (2008) Democracy under Siege, Albert Park, VIC: The Australian Collaboration.

Book Reviews

  • Henry, N. (2011) ‘Book Review: Politicization of Sexual Violence: From Abolitionism to Peacekeeping by Carol Harrington’, Gender & Development, 19(2): 339–341.
  • Henry, N. (2009) ‘Book Review: Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences by L. Huyse & M. Salter (eds), Global Change, Peace & Security, 21(3), 403–408.

Fact & Issue Sheets

Research projects

  • Technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment: violence against women in cyberspace and the implications for legislative and policy reform (ARC Discovery Project commencing in 2013 with Dr Anastasia Powell) The aim of the project is to significantly strengthen understandings of technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment in Australia. The project will document the lived experiences of victims to different forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment, and investigate the effectiveness of law and policy in responding to these new and emerging crimes.
  • Juries, rape and consent: an examination of jury directions in rape trials in Victoria (with Drs. Anastasia Powell, Asher Flynn, Kirsty Duncanson and Emma Henderson) This project examines the impact of reforms to jury directions concerning “consent” in Victorian rape trials. The research will consist of interviews with key stakeholders; observations of trials in the County Court of Victoria; and analysis of judicial decisions about the legislation and actual instances of jury directions on consent.