Dr. Amy Swiffen

Biography

Dr. Amy Swiffen’s research examines the relationship between law, power, and society, with particular attention to constitutional Aboriginal law and socio-legal theory within settler colonial contexts. Her publications address the legal dimensions of social and political life, including topics such as hate crimes, biopolitics, HIV criminalization, and the role of law in colonial governance. Dr. Swiffen builds on the socio-legal theory engagements of thinkers like Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault, critiquing contemporary uses of Benjamin’s concept of divine violence to develop an analysis of law and violence that examines the constitutive violence of colonial legality. She reinterprets Foucault’s framework of biopolitics to address settler colonial contexts in Canada, emphasizing the role of law in mediating relationships of sovereignty, territory, and population. Her current research continues these inquiries into legal pluralism and juridical violence. Notably, she serves as the co-editor of "Indigenous Peoples Future Federalism" (University of Toronto Press, 2024), which explores jurisprudential possibilities for nation-to-nation relationships between Indigenous nations and Crown sovereignty. Additionally, she leads SSHRC-funded projects focused on historical amendments to Canada’s Indian Act that prohibited Indigenous peoples from retaining legal counsel, analyzing how these provisions functioned more as administrative than judicial processes. Dr. Swiffen has supported visiting professorships and received major research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec. She also holds editorial leadership roles, including Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, and has served as Department Chair and Graduate Program Director.

Research Interests