This book offers a unique look at rural access to justice through a series of personal and professional reflections by leading scholars in the field. Engaging a "position sensibility," it explores how our identities, class backgrounds, and professional privileges shape research and writing, and, correspondingly, how there can be no "one size fits all" approach to rural place and justice. Access to justice is a growing field of research, but interest in rural access to justice remains relatively rare. This presents a critical absence, for not only do rural regions have disproportionately large justice gaps, but they also present unique opportunities for innovation and policy development. Further, research in rural areas often looks and feels very different than in more familiar urban settings. To address these gaps, the book presents an honest, reflexive accounting of what has been done, why, and what''s next to dismantle academic barriers and promote meaningful research on rural access to justice. The book provides a direct examination of the rural experience and is grounded in a specific contextual understanding of law. It is intended to inspire readers to incorporate rural perspectives in their legal studies; drawing out the relevance for deepening existing work and offering encouragement for pursuing new directions. It will also encourage readers to consider their own place in their scholarship, including whether and how their positionality might impact on their approach to rural access to justice.

Autorentext

Michele Statz is Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Affiliated Faculty with the
University of Minnesota Law School, USA.
Daniel Newman is Professor at the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University, UK.

Inhalt

1. Introduction, Rebecca Sandefur (Arizona State University, American Bar Foundation , USA)
   
   2. Claiming the South, Elizabeth Chambliss (University of South Carolina, USA)
   3. From the Valleys to the Academy, Daniel Newman (Cardiff University UK)
   4. Improving Access...Delivering Justice? Insights from Empirical Legal Research on (Rural) Access to Justice, Leslie S Ferraz (*United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime*)
   5. Indigenous Communities and Reparative Reflexivity in Socio-legal Studies, Brieanna Watters (*University of Minnesota, USA)*
   6. Considerations of Access to Justice in the Context of Disaster, Kyle Mulrooney (University of New England, Australia), Marg Camilleri (Federation University Australia), Joseph F Donnermeyer (Ohio State University, USA) and Alistair Harkness (University of New England, Australia)
   7. An Escape to Rurality, Maybell Romero (Tulane University, USA)
   8. The Language of a Place, Michele Statz (University of Minnesota, USA)
   9. The Slain South African Police Officer's Legacy Lives on: A Rural Criminologist's History, Witness Maluleke (University of Limpopo, South Africa)
   10. Race, Rurality, and Marginalisation in the American South, Lauren Sudeall (Vanderbilt University, USA)
   11. 'Do What Has to Be Done': How the Codes We Live By Shape Rural Access to Justice, Hillary Wandler (University of Montana, USA)
   12. My Past is My Present: Teaching in and Writing about a Home Community, Hannah Haksgaard (University of South Dakota, USA)
   13. Legal Pluralism and Human Rights Concerns, Wilfredo Ardito (Pontifical Catholic University
       of Peru)
   14. The Importance of Place in Law and Society, Mark Fathi Massoud (University of California, USA)