LLB (Hons)
Law underpins our society. A law degree gives you a unique insight into everything, from the economy to the criminal justice system. And it gives you a huge range of skills that will last you througho…
Reader in Human Rights Law
Dr Sen Raj is an academic human rights lawyer with expertise in issues relating to race, gender, sexuality, and culture.
Dr Senthorun (Sen) Raj is a Reader in Human Rights Law and Postgraduate Research Lead at Manchester Law School. Sen is on the Editorial Board of Palgrave’s Socio-Legal Studies Book Series where he leads on a Queer Law sub-series and Feminist Legal Studies where he is a Creative Content Editor. He is currently a panel member on UKRI’s Interdisciplinary Assessment College and was a member of the QAA’s Subject Benchmark Statement in Law Advisory Group.
Sen’s research and teaching interests include LGBTIQ+ rights, emotion, culture, equalities and human rights law, legal education, and critical legal theory. His monograph, Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: Injury, Intimacy, Identity (Routledge, 2020), explores the ways emotions shape legal progress for LGBT people. He is the co-editor of The Queer Outside in Law: Recognising LGBTIQ People in the United Kingdom (Palgrave, 2020). He is currently co-editing the Queer Judgments Project (forthcoming, Counterpress).
Sen’s interdisciplinary academic background is situated in cultural studies and law. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a BA (Hons), LLB (Hons), and PhD (Law). His Honours thesis examining sexual orientation asylum claims in Australia was awarded the Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives Thesis Prize and the University of Sydney Medal. He has completed a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Prior to taking up a readership at Manchester Law School, Sen was based at Keele Law School (2017-2021) and Sydney Law School (2013-2016). He was a former Scholar in Residence at New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (2015-2016) and Churchill Fellow (2012-2013).
Sen has previously worked in government relations and law reform as the Senior Policy Advisor for the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby in Australia. He is currently the chair of Amnesty International UK.
LGBTIQ+ Rights
Law and Culture
Law and Emotion
Human Rights Law
Critical Legal Theory
The Queer Judgments Project (QJP) is an initiative that evolved from disparate conversations between the current co-curators (Professor Nuno Ferreira, Dr Maria Moscati, and Dr Sen Raj) about how legal judgments related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) could have been written in more appropriate terms in light of the legal framework at the time. We wanted to cultivate a project that brought together friends, colleagues, and activists who were interested in improving and challenging the law and its application to make life better for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other (LGBTIQ+) people and communities.
The main aim of the project is to re-imagine, re-write and re-invent, from queer and other complementing perspectives, judgments that have considered SOGIESC issues. The project has an international reach and multi-disciplinary scope. Individual contributors are free to choose which judgment they want to focus on, featuring voices from across the globe. Similarly, the audience for the outputs of our project includes people outside of academia, especially marginalised communities, and young people.
Criminal Law
Equalities Law
Critical Approaches to Law
Equality and Human Rights
International Human Rights Law
Law underpins our society. A law degree gives you a unique insight into everything, from the economy to the criminal justice system. And it gives you a huge range of skills that will last you througho…
If you’re ready to take your career in law forward, or in one of the many law-related fields, our LLM is an excellent next step. It’s a versatile qualification that produces highly employa…
Samantha Morgan, The Spatial and Affective Dimensions of Litigating LGBTQI Rights: A Caribbean Case Study (Co-supervised with Dr Kay Lalor) (In Progress)
Catherine Jaquiss, Layers of Space and Affect Enmeshed: Obliterating Queer Stereotypes (Co-supervised with Dr Kay Lalor) (In Progress)
Darryl Peers, Queer Form: A Creative-Critical Methodology for Contemporary Scottish Fiction (Co-supervised in Creative Writing with Andrew McMillan and Dr Honor Gavin) (In Progress)
Monographs
Edited Collections
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
Book Reviews
Raj, S. (2020) Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: Injury, Intimacy, Identity. Routledge.
Raj, S., Dunne, P. (2020) The Queer Outside in Law Recognising LGBTIQ People in the United Kingdom. Palgrave Macmillan.
Raj, S., Moscati, M., Ferreira, N. 'Queer(ing) Judgment.' Queer Judgments. Counterpress,
Raj, S. 'R v Green (1997) 191 CLR 334: Affective Judging – An Australian Case of Disgust.' Queer Judgments. Counterpress,
Raj, S., Fischel, J., Cossman, B. (2024) 'Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: an interview.' In Fischel, J.J., Cossman, B. (ed.) Enticements: Queer Legal Studies. NYU Press,
Raj, S. (2023) 'Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.' Gender, Sexuality and Law: A Textbook. Edward Elgar,
Raj, S. (2023) 'Feeling pain and shame: the emotional grammar of banning ‘conversion therapy’.' In Trispiotis, I., Purshouse, C. (ed.) Banning 'Conversion Therapy': legal and policy perspectives. Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 85-108.
Raj, S., Dunne, P. (2021) 'Queering Outside the (Legal) Box: LGBTIQ People in the United Kingdom.' Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Springer International Publishing, pp. 1-19.
Raj, S., Dunne, P. (2021) 'Coming Inside and/or Playing Outside: The (Legal) Futures of LGBTIQ Rights in the United Kingdom.' Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Springer International Publishing, pp. 233-271.
Raj, S. (2016) 'Disturbing disgust: Gesturing to the abject in queer cases.' Queering Criminology. pp. 83-101.
Raj, S. (2016) 'Evolving bodies: Mapping (trans)gender identities in refugee law.' The Routledge Research Companion to Geographies of Sex and Sexualities. pp. 221-228.
Raj, S. 'Legally affective: mapping the emotional grammar of LGBT rights in law school.' Feminist Legal Studies,
Gerber, P., Raj, S., Wilkinson, C., Langlois, A. (2021) 'Protecting the rights of LGBTIQ people around the world: Beyond marriage equality and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.' Alternative Law Journal, 46(1) pp. 5-12.
Raj, S. (2021) 'Teaching feeling: bringing emotion into the law school.' The Law Teacher, 55(2) pp. 128-142.
Raj, S. (2020) 'Contested feelings: Mapping emotional journeys of LGBTI rights and reforms.' Alternative Law Journal, 45(2) pp. 125-130.
Raj, S. (2019) 'Alleviating Anxiety and Cultivating Care: Young Trans People in the Family Court of Australia.' Australian Feminist Law Journal, 45(1) pp. 111-130.
Raj, S. (2018) 'Once more with feeling: queer activist legal scholarship and jurisprudence.' The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(1) pp. 62-79.
Raj, S. (2017) 'A/Effective Adjudications: Queer Refugees and the Law.' Journal of Intercultural Studies, 38(4) pp. 453-468.
Raj, S. (2012) 'A Rainbow Racket.' Alternative Law Journal, 37(1)
Raj, S. (2011) 'Affective displacements: Understanding emotions and sexualities in refugee law.' Alternative Law Journal, 36(3) pp. 177-181.
Berardo, R., Demmelash, F., Najeeullah, Q., Raj, S. (2010) 'TheRace/EthnicityInterview: The Impact of Race and Gender.' Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, 4(1) pp. 29-40.
Essays
Columns
Opinion
TV and Radio