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Miriam Gleckman-Krut

College Fellow in Social Studies, Harvard University
Chapter Member: Boston SSN

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About Miriam

Gleckman-Krut's research focuses on law; gender; sexualities; statehood; and violence. She is interested in how; when; and why states or institutions erase evidence of sexual- and/or gender-based violence. She has published work on sexual violence within American Sociology; campus sexual assault in the United States; the Namibian genocide; and LGBTI+ asylum seeking in South Africa.

In the News

Opinion: "Germany Apologized for a Genocide. It’s Nowhere Near Enough," Miriam Gleckman-Krut (with Kavena Hambira), The New York Times, July 8, 2021.
Opinion: "When Stereotypes, Misconceptions and Wikipedia Decide the Fate of LGBTQI+ Asylum Seekers," Miriam Gleckman-Krut (with John Marnell, B Camminga, Mandivavarira Mudarikwa, and Amy-Leigh Payne), Maverick Citizen, April 28, 2021.
Opinion: "Protecting LGBTI Asylum Seekers: A Short History of South Africa’s Global Leadership," Miriam Gleckman-Krut, Network for Migration Matters, March 26, 2021.
Opinion: "A Country Disinterested in Protecting People Who Flee Persecution," Miriam Gleckman-Krut, Cape Times, February 5, 2020.
Opinion: "Xenophobia Does Not Belong in South Africa," Miriam Gleckman-Krut (with Jerusalem Hadush), Daily Maverick, March 20, 2019.
Interviewed in "Campus Sexual Assault Researchers: Focus on Due Process Comes at Victims' Expense," (with Nicole Bedera) Michigan Radio, NPR, September 28, 2017.
Opinion: "Who Gets to Define Campus Rape?," Miriam Gleckman-Krut (with Nicole Bedera), The New York Times, September 18, 2017.
Opinion: "Amnesty Report Too Harsh on SA," Miriam Gleckman-Krut, Cape Times, October 2, 2013.

Publications

"LGBTI+ Asylum Seekers in South Africa: A Review of Refugee Status Denials Involving Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity," (with Mandivavarira Mudarikwa, Amy-Leigh Payne, B Camminga, John Marnell, Victor Mdluli Chikalogwe, and Ethan Billy Chigwada), Legal Resources Center; People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty and Women's Legal Center, April 2021.

Reviews 67 denial letters2 written by Refugee Status Determination Officers (RSDOs) on behalf of 65 applicants who identify as lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender and/or intersex (LGBTI+).  Serves as a resource for researchers, lawyers, service providers and civil society organisations, as well as for LGBTI+ persons seeking protection in South Africa. Hopes to spotlight some of the legal, administrative and bureaucratic barriers preventing LGBTI+ asylum applicants from being formally recognised.

"Defining Sexual Consent on Campus: What’s in Media vs. What’s in the Policies," (with Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Sandra Levitsky, Kamaria Porter, Elizabeth Chase, and Jessica Garrick), Council on Contemporary Families, October 21, 2019.

Reviews findings of the first nationally representative survey of university campus sexual misconduct policies. Finds that 90% of schools offered a definition of consent, but that most did not require verbal consent. Finds a majority of schools state that consent can be revoked at any time, that consent for one activity does not imply consent for another, and that current or previous dating or sexual relationships do not imply consent for another activity. Notes that while 91% of schools state incapacitation invalidates consent, definitions of incapacitation may differ or be absent altogether. Finds that schools have not gone to extremes when it comes to drawing a line between sexuality and violence. Cautions that readers should be wary of media focus on outlier or extreme cases. Notes a need for good facts to produce good policy.

"Silence, Power, and Inequality: An Intersectional Approach to Sexual Violence," (with Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Lanora Johnson), University of Michigan, July 31, 2018.

Conceptualizes sexual violence as a mechanism of inequality that is made more effective by the silencing of its usage. Traces legal and cultural contestations over the definition of sexual violence in the United States. Considers the challenges of narrating sexual violence and review how the narrow focus on gender by some anti–sexual violence activism fails women of color and other marginalized groups. Concludes by interrogating the sociological silence on sexual violence.

"Constructing 'Corrective Rape' for South Africa: An Evaluation of a Global Media Discourse around Sexual Violence in South Africa" (with AJ Lee). Harvard Kennedy School LGBTQ Policy Journal (2014).

Integrates social scientific scholarship on sexual violence – particularly that which employs an intersectional perspective– with the goal of more fully integrating sexual violence into the sociological study of inequality.