Education
J.S.D., Cornell Law School
LL.M., Cornell Law School
LL.B., Asmara University
Background
Luwam Dirar is a legal scholar with international academic and practice experience. Her research and teaching experience span the Max Planck Foundation, Harvard University, Cornell University, Pretoria University, Doha Educational City (in collaboration with the Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy), and the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania. She has consulted international organizations on migration as a subject matter and country expert. She has supported African governments in transition on the rule of law- and law-making processes from a comparative perspective.
Prof. Dirar’s teaching and research interests include internet law, international human rights law, migration law, and the intersection of international economic law and international relations. Her research and writing critique systems that root colonialism, neocolonialism, patriarchy, and inequality in our society. She earned her J.S.D. from Cornell University in 2016. Her dissertation titled Theorizing Regional Integration Among the Southern African States and their Relations with the European Union attempted to develop new thinking on how African states conceptualize regional integration. Her current research project aims to broaden her dissertation’s theoretical contribution to broader emancipatory movements in Africa.
Scholarly Works
Book Chapters
Luwam Dirar, Comparative Constitutional Law and Colonialism, in Max Planck Encyclopedia Of Comparative And Constitutional Law (forthcoming 2022).
Kibrom Teweldebirhan & Luwam Dirar, Citizenship, Rights and Political Subjectivity in Eritrea, in The Routledge Handbook Of African Law 442 (Muna Ndulo & Cosmas Emeziem eds., 2022).
Luwam G. Dirar, Rethinking the Concept of Colonialism in Bandung and its African Union Aftermath, reprinted in Bandung, Global History, And International Law 355 (Luis Eslava et al. eds., 2017).
Journal Articles
Luwam Dirar, Regional Integration in Africa: What Role for South Africa?, 55 Canadian J. Afr. Stud. 430 (2021) (book review).
Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Ohio Omiunu, Amaka Vanni, Regis Y. Simo & Luwam Dirar, Africa’s Participation in International Economic Law in the 21st Century: An Introduction, 17 Manchester J. Int’l Econ. L. 1 (2020).
Luwam Dirar, Norms of Solidarity and Regionalism: Theorizing State Behavior Among Southern African States, 24 Mich. St. Int'l L. Rev. 667 (2015).
Luwam G. Dirar, Rethinking and Theorizing Regional Integration in Southern Africa, 28 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 123 (2014).
Luwam Dirar, Folklore Protection in the Eritrean Context: Legal Issues and Choices, 20 Afr. Int'l & Compar. L.J. 229 (2012).
Luwam Dirar, Common Market for Eastern and Southern African Countries: Multiplicity of Membership Issues and Choices, 18 Afr. Int'l & Compar. L.J. 217 (2010).
Luwam G. Dirar, Multilateralism or Regionalism What Can Be Done About the Proliferation of Regional Trading Agreements? (Cornell L. Sch. Inter-U. Graduate Student Conf. Papers, Paper No. 20, 2009).
Shorter Writings
Luwam Dirar, Could Chat GPT Make Lawyers Obsolete?, Af-Am Point of View , Jan. 1, 2024, at 23.
Luwam Dirar & Kibrom Tesfagabir, Introduction to Eritrean Legal System and Research, Globalex (Mar. 2011, last updated June 2019).
