pilipiliĀž»­

 

Heather Tasker

Assistant Professor

Heather Tasker photo

Email: Heather.Tasker@dal.ca
Phone: (902) 431-2141
Fax: (902) 494-3825
Mailing Address: 
Department of Political Science, Room 301, 3rd Floor, Henry Hicks Building, pilipiliĀž»­, 6283 Alumni Crescent, PO Box 15000 Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
 
Research Topics:
  • Gender Violence
  • Transitional Justice
  • International Criminal Law
  • Human Rights

Education:

  • BA, UPEI
  • MA, York University
  • PhD, York University

Profile:

Dr. Heather Tasker is an Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science and the Law, Justice & Society program at pilipiliĀž»­. Dr. Taskerā€™s research explores gendered violence in conflict-affected contexts through the lenses of transitional justice, human rights, and feminist legal studies. In collaboration with community-based partners, she has examined womenā€™s ā€˜law-makingā€™ in forced marriages, access to justice following peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual abuse, and the development of transitional justice mechanisms in response to conflict-related sexual violence. Ongoing projects explore how access to healthcare impacts legal decision-making following sexual violence in the DRC, and tracks the inclusion of CRSV survivors in justice mechanisms in Liberia and North East Nigeria.

Dr. Taskerā€™s recent work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, Law & Society Review, International Studies Review and in edited book collections focused on socio-legal methods and critical theory. She is a member of the Law & Society Association, Canadian Law & Society Association, Women, Peace and Security Network- Canada, and the Missing Peace Scholars Network (USIP).

Selected Publications:

Tasker, H.; Bunting, A.; Van der Werf, K.; Bartels, S. (2023). ā€œThose MONUSCO Agents Left While We Were Still Pregnantā€:Ā Accountability and Support for Peacekeeper-Fathered Children in the DRC.ā€Ā  Journal of Peace Research (advance online access).

Wagner, K.; Tasker, H.; Vahedi, L.; Bartels, S.; Lee, S. (2022). ā€œBorn between War and Peace:

Situating Peacekeeper-Fathered Children in Research on Children Born of War.ā€ Frontiers in Political Science (4).

Bunting, A.; Tasker, H.; Lockhart, E. (2021). ā€œWomen's Lawā€Making and Contestations of ā€œMarriageā€ in African Conflict Situations.ā€ Law & Society Review, 55(4), 614-633.

Kollie, T.C.; Cooper, A.; Tasker, H. Bartels, S.; Bunting, A. ā€œGendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalized women in Liberia: Resilience and enduring challenges.ā€ International Studies Review, Forum: Women, Peace and Security, Gendered Risks, and COVID-19. (In-Press)

Tasker, H. ā€œResolving Justice: Frictions between Community-based Organizations and the United Nations Women Peace and Security agenda.ā€ In Bunting, A., Kiconco, A., & Quirk, J. (Eds.). (2023).Ā Research as More Than Extraction: Knowledge Production and Gender-based Violence in African Societies. Ohio University Press.

Tasker, H. (2023) ā€œThrough Different Lenses: Law, Space, and Humanitarianism Within a UNHCR Photography Projectā€ in Alam, M.; Dwyer, P.; Roots, K. (eds.) Violence, Imagination and Resistance: Socio-legal Interrogations of Power. Athabasca University Press.

Roots, K.; Lockhart, E.; Tasker, H. (2023) ā€œLaw, Gendered Violence, and Justice: Critically Engaging #MeToo.ā€ in Alam, M.; Dwyer, P.; Roots, K. (eds.) Violence, Imagination and Resistance: Socio-legal Interrogations of Power. Athabasca University Press