Jane Cowan
Emeritus Professor (Anthropology)

Selected publications

Article

Cowan, Jane K (2020) ‘The feeling of pursuing an ideal’: a League of Nations civil servant reflects on his work. Social Anthropology, 28 (1). pp. 17-34. ISSN 0964-0282

Billaud, Julie and Cowan, Jane K (2020) The bureaucratisation of utopia: ethics, affects and subjectivities in international governance processes. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 28 (1). pp. 6-16. ISSN 0964-0282

Cowan, Jane K and Billaud, Julie (2015) Between learning and schooling: the politics of human rights monitoring at the Universal Periodic Review. Third World Quarterly, 36 (5). pp. 1175-1190. ISSN 0143-6597

Cowan, Jane K (2014) Struggling over procedures and other interventions: a comment on David Graeber’s “Anthropology and the rise of the professional-managerial class". Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 4 (3). pp. 245-253. ISSN 2049-1115

Cowan, Jane K (2006) Culture and Rights after Culture and Rights. American Anthropologist, 108 (1). pp. 9-24. ISSN 0002-7294

Book Section

Cowan, Jane K and Billaud, Julie (2017) The 'public' character of the Universal Periodic Review: contested concept and methodological challenge. In: Niezen, Ronald and Sapignoli, Maria (eds.) Palaces of hope: the anthropology of global organizations. Cambridge studies in law and society . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 106-126. ISBN 9781107127494

Cowan, Jane (2015) The Universal Periodic Review as a public audit ritual: an anthropological perspective on emerging practices in the global governance of human rights. In: Charlesworth, Hilary and Larking, Emma (eds.) Human rights and the Universal Periodic Review: rituals and ritualism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 42-62. ISBN 9781107086302

Cowan, Jane (2013) Before Audit Culture: a Genealogy of International Oversight of Rights. In: Muller, Birgit (ed.) The Gloss of Harmony: The Politics of Policy Making in Multilateral Organisations. Pluto Press, pp. 103-133. ISBN 9780745333748

Cowan, Jane (2010) Justice and the League of Nations Minority Regime. In: Clarke, Kamari Maxine and Goodale, Mark (eds.) Mirrors of justice : law and power in the post-Cold War era. Cambridge University Press, pp. 270-290. ISBN 978-0521195379

Cowan, Jane K (2007) The success of failure? Minority supervision at the league of nations. In: Dembour, Marie-Benedicte and Kelly, Tobias (eds.) Paths to International Justice: Social and Legal Perspectives. Cambridge Studies in Law and Society . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 29-56. ISBN 9780521709200

Cowan, Jane K, Dembour, Marie-Benedicte and Wilson, Richard A (2001) Introduction. In: Cowan, Jane, Dembour, Marie-Benedicte and Wilson, Richard A (eds.) Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521793391

Cowan, Jane K (2001) Ambiguities of an emancipatory discourse: the making of a Macedonian minority in Greece. In: Cowan, Jane K, Dembour, Marie-Benedicte and Wilson, Richard A (eds.) Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 152-176. ISBN 9780521797351

Edited Book

Cowan, Jane K and Billaud, Julie, eds. (2020) Bureaucratisation of utopia (JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE). Social Anthropology, 28 (1). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0000000000

Cowan, Jane, Dembour, Marie-Benedicte and Wilson, Richard, eds. (2001) Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521793391