Ben Hightower

Ben Hightower is a lecturer at Macquarie Law School.

Ben’s research involves transdisciplinary explorations in the field of law drawing on observations and knowledges found in areas such as religion, music, art, and culture. He is particularly interested in how we might (re)imagine law, legal institutions, and legal bodies. Part of Ben’s scholarship is concerned with legal liminalities or threshold spaces and how these are experienced by marginalised communities and especially, refugees and asylum seekers. He also investigates practices of crimmigration and the criminalisation of dissent in liberal democracies. Ben has presented his research at a number of universities in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Ben received his PhD in Law from the Legal Intersections Research Centre at the University of Wollongong. His thesis entitled Refugee Limbo is in the fields of refugee and human rights law and uses qualitative research methods to establish the concept of ‘legal limbo’ through various legal and socio-legal lenses.

Ben is on the Editorial Board for the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law as an Australian Advisor.

Ben is passionate about education and student experience. His teaching philosophy aims to create strategies, methods and experiences that foster authentic and enduring connections to curriculum and learning.

Current and Past Teaching in Macquarie Law School:

LEX101 – Law, Human Rights and Global Governance 

LAWS1010 – Introduction to Law and Social Justice

LAWS2000 – International Law

LAWS2050 – Crime, Policy and Governance

LAWS2060 – The Politics of Human Rights Law

LAWS5079 – Refugees and Migration

LAWS5080/8094 – Human Rights and Moral Dilemmas