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. Tasker’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 women’s ā€˜law-making’ 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. Tasker’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 Law‐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