 Fran Buntman
Assistant Professor of Sociology
The practices and study of criminal justice occur in many fields, from the day-to-day reality of policing and prisons, to the academic fields of law, psychology, and criminology, among others. The integration and dialogue of these various strands of criminal justice, and their interrogation through and by sociological and social science theories, lies at the core of my work as a teacher, writer, and researcher. Within this broad framework, my primary interests are prisons and other institutions of punishment and correction. These institutions at once hide and emphasize key elements of societies' organization, power structures, and value systems. My publication and teaching focuses on law, power, resistance, and punishment, from historical prisons like South Africa's Robben Island to contemporary prisons like the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and from the conversion of a synagogue into an apartheid court to prison movies.
Selected Publications
2003. Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance to Apartheid. Cambridge, England and New York: Cambridge University Press.
2003. "Policing in a Diverse and Multi-cultural Society: The South African case." Special Issue of Police and Society [Israel] in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice [US], April 7: 199-231. (With Rika Snyman.)
2001. "Race, Reputation, and the Supreme Court: Valuing Blackness and Whiteness." University of Miami Law Review 56: 1-24.
2000. "The Role of Political Imprisonment in Developing and Enhancing Political Leadership: A Comparative Study of South Africa's and Taiwan's Democratization." Journal of Asian and African Studies 35, no. 1: 43-66. (With Tong-yi Huang.) Also reprinted in Taiwan in Perspective, Wei-chin Lee ed. Leiden: The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.
1998. "Categorical and Strategic Resistance and the Making of Political Prisoner Identity in Apartheid's Robben Island Prison." Social Identities 4, no. 3: 417-440. Also reprinted in Social Identities in the New South Africa: After Apartheid, ed. Abebe Zegeye. Ashgate.
Current Projects
- From Congregation to Court: Pretoria's "Old Synagogue" in the "New South Africa"
- Terrorism and the problem of political prisoners.
Courses Taught
SOC 003: Introduction to Criminal Justice
SOC 145: Introduction to Criminal Law
SOC 189: Special Topics in Criminal Justice
SOC 257: Gender and Criminal Justice
SOC 262: American Corrections
SOC 801: Prisons and Punishment: International Fact, Film, and Fiction
Contact Information
fbuntman@gwu.edu
202-994-7465
Phillips 409G
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