Dr Rebecca Monson
Areas of expertise
- Access To Justice 180102
- Comparative Law 180106
- Environmental And Natural Resources Law 180111
- Law And Society 180119
- Social And Cultural Geography 160403
- Social And Cultural Anthropology 160104
- Pacific History (Excl. New Zealand And Maori) 210313
- Anthropology Of Development 160101
Biography
Rebecca is a lawyer and geographer with a background in both research and practice. Her research is empirical and transdisciplinary, drawing on critical approaches in law, geography, anthropology and history. Her work focuses on the intersection of state and customary legal systems; is informed by postcolonial and feminist legal theories; and often draws on participatory research methodologies.
Prior to joining the ANU, Rebecca specialised in emergency and disaster law at Maddocks Lawyers, and at the Centre for Risk and Community Safety at RMIT University as part of the Bushfire CRC. She has also worked at the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, where she coordinated the Pacific program; and at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development at Leiden University.
Rebecca has conducted fieldwork in Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, and regularly undertakes professional consultancies relating to justice systems, gender and development for both donors and NGOs.
Rebecca undertook her undergraduate studies at Monash University, where she graduated with first class honours and the Supreme Court Prize for Best Honours Thesis. She received her PhD from the ANU in 2012, for a thesis examining transformations in gendered land relations associated with colonisation, missionisation and the commodification of natural resources in Solomon Islands. Rebecca currenty convenes the Law, Governance and Development program in the ANU College of Law and is a member of the board of the Pacific Institute.
Researcher's projects
Rebecca has published in the field of housing, land and property rights; natural resource management; disaster and emergency management; and the intersection of local and state-based forms of dispute resolution.
Rebecca is currently working on a book manuscript examining transformations in gender relations and land relations in Solomon Islands, and the ways in which local contests over the 'ownership' of land are entwined with state formation. She is also working on an edited volume publishing the results of research examining the capacity of customary tenure systems to respond to climate-induced displacement.
Available student projects
Law and development
Legal geography
Postcolonial legal theory
Feminist legal theory as it relates to gender and development
Current student projects
Caroline Compton (panel) 'Institutional resiliance and incentives in post-disaster recovery', PhD Candidate in ANU College of Law
Joseph D. Foukona (panel) 'Why Land Reform Continues to Fail in Melanesia', PhD Candidate in School of Culture, History and Languages, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Bal Kama (supervisor) 'An Ingenious Judiciary in an Autochthonous Constitution: A Necessity or Nuisance? The Case of Papua New Guinea' ANU College of Law
Publications
- Monson, R & Fitzpatrick, D 2016, 'Negotiating relocation in a weak state: land tenure and adaptation to sea-level rise in Solomon Islands', in S Price, J Singer (ed.), Global Implications of Development, Disasters and Climate Change: Responses to Displacement from Asia Pacific, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, pp. 240-255.
- Monson, R 2015, 'From Taovia to Trustee: Urbanisation, Land Disputes and Social Differentiation in Kakabona', Journal of Pacific History, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 437-449.
- Fitzpatrick, D & Monson, R 2015, 'Land law and natural disasters in the South Pacific', Alternative Law Journal, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 195-198.
- Monson, R & Hoa'au, G 2015 '(Em)placing law: migration, belonging and place in Solomon Islands', in Fiona Jenkins, Mark Nolan, Kim Rubenstein (ed.), Allegiance and Identity in a Globalised World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 117-141.
- Monson, R & Foukona, J 2014, 'Climate-related displacement and options for resettlement in Solomon Islands', in S. Leckie (ed.), Land solutions for climate displacement, Routledge, London, UK, pp. 291-316.
- Monson, R 2014, 'Unsettled Explorations of Law's Archives: The Allure and Anxiety of Solomon Islands' Court Records', The Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 35-50.
- Allen, M & Monson, R 2014, 'Land and Conflict in Papua New Guinea: The Role of Land Mediation', Security Challenges, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1-14.
- Fitzpatrick, D & Monson, R 2013, 'Climate Change and the Legal Framework for Settlement Relocation in the South Pacific', 2013 FIG Pacific Small Island Developing States Symposium: Policies and Practices for Responsible Government, ed. To be checked, International Federation of Surveyors, Fiji.
- Monson, R 2013, 'From Taovia to Trustees: male spokespersons and 'dangerous' land disputes in Kakabona'.
- Monson, R 2013, 'Vernacularising Political Participation: Strategies of Women Peace-builders in Solomon Islands', Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, no. 33, p. 12.
- Monson, R 2013, ''From Adam's rib': land disputes, social differentiation and state formation in postcolonial Solomon Islands', Property and Citizenship in Developing Countries, ProCit research group, Copenhagen.
- Monson, R 2013, 'Outsider engagement in debates about constitutional reform', IGLP: The Workshop, ed. Institute of Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts.
- Allen, M, Dinnen, S, Evans, D et al 2013, Justice Delivered Locally Systems, Challenges and Innovations in Solomon Islands. Washington DC: World Bank, Justice Delivered Locally, Research Report, August 2013, pp 1-92.
- Monson, R 2012, 'The problem of property: Knowing and speaking about land in Solomon Islands', Innovation, Development, Creativity and Access in Knowledge in Pacific Island Countries, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Canberra.
- Monson, R 2011, 'Negotiating Land Tenure: Women, Men and the Transformation of Land Tenure in Solomon Islands', in Janine Ubink (ed.), Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment, International Development Law Organization in conjuction with Van Vollenhoven Institute, University of Leiden, Rome, pp. 169-185.
- Monson, R, 2011 'Negotiating Land Tenure: Women, Men and the Transformation of Land Tenure in Solomon Islands'in Janine Ubink (ed.) Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment, International Development Law Organisation and Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development, Rome, Italy, pp 169-185
- Fitzpatrick, D & Monson, R 2010, 'Asia-Pacific: Haitians must determine the future of Haiti', Alternative Law Journal, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 41-42.
- Monson ,R 2010 'Participatory research on land issues in Solomon Islands' Pacific Currents Issues 1.2 and 2.1
- Monson, R 2010 'Women, State Law and Land in Peri-Urban Settlements on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands' World Bank Justice for the Poor Briefing Note 4(3)
- Fitzpatrick, D & Monson, R 2009, 'Balancing Rights and Norms: Property Programming in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, and Bougainville', in Scott Leckie (ed.), Housing, Land, and Property Rights in Post-Conflict United Nations and Other Peace Operations: A comparative survey and proposal for reform, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 103-135.
- Monson R and Handmer J 2004 'Does a Rights Based Approach Make a Difference? The Role of Public Law in Vulnerability Reduction' International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 22(3): 43-59
- Monson, R 2004 'The 1998 Floods in the Tambo Valley' International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 22 (3):61-86
