James M. Donovan assumed his role as Director of the University of Kentucky College of Law Alvin E. Evans Law Library in December 2010. In that capacity he oversees all aspects of library operations, including managing the Library’s daily activities, strategic planning, collection development, while leading a staff of ten to twelve library faculty and support staff. He is responsible for administration of the budget and ensuring that resources are used to support the College’s research, teaching, and service missions. As Associate Professor of Law, Donovan teaches advanced legal research and continues his research into the substantive area of legal anthropology. Before coming to UKY, Donovan was a member of the library team at the University of Georgia School of Law Library, where he was Faculty and Access Services Librarian, and at the Tulane University Law School as its Head of Access Services. He has held an adjunct appointment to the UGA Department of Anthropology, for which he taught legal anthropology. Published books include LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION (AltaMira Press, 2008), and ANTHROPOLOGY & LAW (Berghahn, 2003). He also served as editor-in-chief of the AALL publication SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW: A RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY (2006). Additional work in the areas of sexual orientation law, religion and the law, and law as a species of regulatory social norm has appeared in a number of law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and complement his ongoing researches in library topics such as the role of digital institutional repositories in law schools, and the future direction of the library as a social institution within this age of Google. A holder of five degrees, Donovan received his first, a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Greek/Latin and Humanities, in 1981 from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He earned both his Master in Library Information Science and a Master of Arts in philosophy from Louisiana State University. At Tulane, he obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology with specialization in psychological anthropology. Finally, in the spring of 2003, Donovan graduated magna cum laude from Loyola New Orleans with a Juris Doctor.
Anthropology
Why Law?, UK Law Notes (2011)
Fairness, then, not order, is the special domain of law. The accompaniments of law we...
The Moral Significance of Social Roles (2008)
Outside of specialized contexts, moral philosophy lacks an appreciation of the ethical commitments embedded within...
Legal Anthropology: An Introduction (2008)
LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION offers an initial overview of the challenging debates surrounding the cross-cultural...
"Anticipatory Self-Defense" and Other Stories (with Jeanne M. Woods), Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy (2005)
We argue that the specious justification for the invasion of Iraq -- a war based...
Review: The Discipline of Law Schools: The Making of Modern Lawyers (Philip C. Kissam, Carolina Academic Press, 2003), and The Shame of American Legal Education (Alan Watson, PH-Dosije, 2004), PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review (2005)
Civil Rights
Broun is Mere Opportunist, Athens Banner-Herald (2009)
Only Congressman Paul Broun could compress so many misleading statements and factual errors into such...
Gay Marriage: The Issue, Flagpole (2009)
Comment in response to Bob Ostertag, "Why Gay Marriage Is the Wrong Issue," Flagpole, January...
Corporate Domestic Partner Benefits, Defending Same-Sex Marriage, Vol. 1: "Separate But Equal" No More (2007)
Despite the common use of the term domestic partner, it remains unclear what that term...
Delimiting the Culture Defense (with John Stuart Garth), Quinnipiac Law Review (2007)
This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, THE...
Same-Sex Union Announcements: Precis on a Not so Picayune Matter, Loyola Law Review (2003)
Although some newspapers have voluntarily begun to publish same-sex union announcements, others will continue in...
Constitutional Law
Same-Sex Union Announcements: Precis on a Not so Picayune Matter, Loyola Law Review (2003)
Although some newspapers have voluntarily begun to publish same-sex union announcements, others will continue in...
Same-Sex Union Announcements: Whether Newspapers Must Publish Them, and Why We Should Care, Brooklyn Law Review (2003)
The recent decision by the New York Times to publish same-sex union announcements brought to...
DOMA: An Unconstitutional Establishment of Fundamentalist Christianity, Michigan Journal of Gender & Law (1997)
This Article scrutinizes the constitutionality of the intent of the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA]....
Restoring Free Exercise Protections by Limiting Them: Preventing a Repeat of Smith, Northern Illinois University Law Review (1996)
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith effectively removed all protections traditionally...
God Is as God Does: Law, Anthropology, and the Definition of "Religion", Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal (1995)
This Article first discusses the judicial deliberations upon the definition of religion. That discussion adopts...
Courts
Burdine v. Johnson -- To Sleep, Perchance to Get a New Trial: Presumed Prejudice Arising from Sleeping Counsel, Loyola Law Review (2001)
Few images slice as deeply into our self-image as a fair society than that of...
Criminal Law and Procedure
Delimiting the Culture Defense (with John Stuart Garth), Quinnipiac Law Review (2007)
This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, THE...
Burdine v. Johnson -- To Sleep, Perchance to Get a New Trial: Presumed Prejudice Arising from Sleeping Counsel, Loyola Law Review (2001)
Few images slice as deeply into our self-image as a fair society than that of...
Dispute Resolution
Prolegomenon to a Fairness-Centered Anthropology of Law (2007)
Legal anthropology, which began with Malinowski’s holistic reflections on law, has today drifted toward an...
Delimiting the Culture Defense (with John Stuart Garth), Quinnipiac Law Review (2007)
This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, THE...
General Law
Why Law?, UK Law Notes (2011)
Fairness, then, not order, is the special domain of law. The accompaniments of law we...
Review Essay: The Implicit Relation of Psychology and Law: Women and Syndrome Evidence (Fiona E. Raitt and M. Suzanne Zeedyk, Routledge, 2000), Sexualities, Evolution & Gender (2004)
Anthropology & Law (with H. Edwin Anderson) (2003)
This book defends the thesis that the two fields of law and anthropology co-exist in...
International Law
Rights as Fairness (2008)
Edmundson characterizes the historical emergence of the idea of human rights out of the conceptual...
A Foundation for Transnational Obligations (2007)
Human rights have, over the last fifty years, risen to the forefront of foreign relations....
"Anticipatory Self-Defense" and Other Stories (with Jeanne M. Woods), Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy (2005)
We argue that the specious justification for the invasion of Iraq -- a war based...
Civilian Immunity and the Rebuttable Presumption of Innocence, Journal of Law in Society (2004)
"Terrorist" is a word that at once vilifies and justifies, serving the same function in...
Law and Society
Why Law?, UK Law Notes (2011)
Fairness, then, not order, is the special domain of law. The accompaniments of law we...
Legal Anthropology: An Introduction (2008)
LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION offers an initial overview of the challenging debates surrounding the cross-cultural...
Human Nature Constraints upon the Realistic Utopianism of Rawls and Nussbaum (2007)
As Christopher Bobonich (1993, p. S92) reminds us, “The idea of basing an ethical theory...
Prolegomenon to a Fairness-Centered Anthropology of Law (2007)
Legal anthropology, which began with Malinowski’s holistic reflections on law, has today drifted toward an...
Corporate Domestic Partner Benefits, Defending Same-Sex Marriage, Vol. 1: "Separate But Equal" No More (2007)
Despite the common use of the term domestic partner, it remains unclear what that term...
Legal Research and Bibliography
Open Access: Good for Readers, Authors, and Journals (with Carol A. Watson), Bloomberg Law Reports: Student Edition (2011)
Readers, authors, and even law journal publishers will all achieve their different but related interests...
Citation Advantage of Open Access Legal Scholarship (with Carol A. Watson), Law Library Journal (2011)
In this study focusing on the impact of open access on legal scholarship, the authors...
Back Away from the Survey Monkey!, AALL Spectrum (2009)
In an environment of too many—and too many ill-designed—surveys, our twin aims should be to...
Current Awareness Alerts Make the Internet Revolve Around You, Georgia Law Advocate (2008)
Shares ways for busy lawyers to utilize tech-savvy methods to receive desired news and information.
White Paper: Behind a Law School's Decision to Implement an Institutional Repository (with Carol A. Watson), (2008)
An institutional repository [IR] is a means to collect the intellectual digital output of an...
Libraries
Will an Institutional Repository Hurt My SSRN Ranking?: Calming the Faculty Fear (with Carol A. Watson), AALL Spectrum (2012)
Librarians have every reason to support the creation of an institutional digital repository (IR). An...
Tenure and the Law Library Director (with Kevin B. Shelton), Journal of Legal Education (2012)
This essay offers a response to the current discussion concerning the possible rescission of ABA...
A Library is Not the Books: An Ethical Obstacle to the Digital Library, Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society (2012)
Casual and thoughtful speakers alike frequently use “library” as though it were the collective noun...
Citation Advantage of Open Access Legal Scholarship (with Carol A. Watson), Law Library Journal (2011)
In this study focusing on the impact of open access on legal scholarship, the authors...
Institutional Repositories: A Plethora of Possibilities (with Carol A. Watson), Trends in Law Library Management and Technology (2011)
The law library can be a major contributing partner to the success of its law...
Philosophy
The Moral Significance of Social Roles (2008)
Outside of specialized contexts, moral philosophy lacks an appreciation of the ethical commitments embedded within...
Rights as Fairness (2008)
Edmundson characterizes the historical emergence of the idea of human rights out of the conceptual...
Human Nature Constraints upon the Realistic Utopianism of Rawls and Nussbaum (2007)
As Christopher Bobonich (1993, p. S92) reminds us, “The idea of basing an ethical theory...
A Foundation for Transnational Obligations (2007)
Human rights have, over the last fifty years, risen to the forefront of foreign relations....
The Possibility of Technical Definition in Later Wittgenstein (2006)
Wittgenstein’s philosophy remains influential. If its tenets impose constraints on either the possibility of scientific...
Popular Culture
ACT UP/Anita Bryant/Drugs, Religion, and Law/Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund/Right to Reply and Right of the Press/Sincerity of Religious Belief, Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006)
Six entries in the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (Paul Finkelman, ed.).
Comic Strips and Books, Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia (2000)
Reviews the treatment and appearance of gay men in comic serials and books.
Psychology
Review Essay: The Implicit Relation of Psychology and Law: Women and Syndrome Evidence (Fiona E. Raitt and M. Suzanne Zeedyk, Routledge, 2000), Sexualities, Evolution & Gender (2004)
Review: Facial Attractiveness: Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Social Perspectives (Gillian Rhodes and Leslie A. Zebrowitz, eds., Ablex Publishing, 2002), Human Nature Review (2003)
Implicit Religion and the Curvilinear Relationship between Religion and Death Anxiety, Implicit Religion (2002)
Debate over the relationship of religion to death anxiety has included the opposing views of...
Reinterpreting Telepathy as Unusual Experiences of Empathy and Charisma, Perceptual and Motor Skills (1998)
Telepathy is often dismissed because it is judged to be contrary to the accepted facts...
Toward a Model Relating Empathy, Charisma, and Telepathy, Journal of Scientific Exploration (1997)
Telepathy is often dismissed because it is judged to be so weird as to be...
Public Law and Legal Theory
Delimiting the Culture Defense (with John Stuart Garth), Quinnipiac Law Review (2007)
This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, THE...
"Anticipatory Self-Defense" and Other Stories (with Jeanne M. Woods), Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy (2005)
We argue that the specious justification for the invasion of Iraq -- a war based...
Civilian Immunity and the Rebuttable Presumption of Innocence, Journal of Law in Society (2004)
"Terrorist" is a word that at once vilifies and justifies, serving the same function in...
Rock-Salting the Slippery Slope: Why Same-Sex Marriage is Not a Commitment to Polygamous Marriage, Northern Kentucky Law Review (2002)
E.J. Graff has documented how any change in the marriage rules inevitably leads to predications...
DOMA: An Unconstitutional Establishment of Fundamentalist Christianity, Michigan Journal of Gender & Law (1997)
This Article scrutinizes the constitutionality of the intent of the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA]....
Religion
ACT UP/Anita Bryant/Drugs, Religion, and Law/Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund/Right to Reply and Right of the Press/Sincerity of Religious Belief, Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006)
Six entries in the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (Paul Finkelman, ed.).
Defining Religion, Selected Readings in the Anthropology of Religion: Theoretical and Methodological Essays (2003)
The charge of this essay was to review definitional trends of "religion." Four major types...
Implicit Religion and the Curvilinear Relationship between Religion and Death Anxiety, Implicit Religion (2002)
Debate over the relationship of religion to death anxiety has included the opposing views of...
A Brazilian Challenge to Lewis's Explanation of Cult Mediumship, Journal of Contemporary Religion (2000)
Recruitment into peripheral possession trance cults has been explained as attempts to compensate for socio-economic...
Reconciling Arguments Regarding a Self-Preserving Soul with Evolutionary Theory (2000)
The present work seeks to identify which systems of philosophical metaphysics, if any, are compatible...
Sexual Orientation
Broun is Mere Opportunist, Athens Banner-Herald (2009)
Only Congressman Paul Broun could compress so many misleading statements and factual errors into such...
Gay Marriage: The Issue, Flagpole (2009)
Comment in response to Bob Ostertag, "Why Gay Marriage Is the Wrong Issue," Flagpole, January...
Corporate Domestic Partner Benefits, Defending Same-Sex Marriage, Vol. 1: "Separate But Equal" No More (2007)
Despite the common use of the term domestic partner, it remains unclear what that term...
Sexual Orientation and the Law: A Research Bibliography Selectively Annotating Legal Literature through 2005 (2006)
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW: A RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY is a project of the Standing Committee...
ACT UP/Anita Bryant/Drugs, Religion, and Law/Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund/Right to Reply and Right of the Press/Sincerity of Religious Belief, Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006)
Six entries in the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (Paul Finkelman, ed.).