James M. Donovan joined the staff of the University of Georgia Alexander Campbell
King Law Library in July 2003. In his role as faculty services librarian, he serves as
the primary liaison between the law library and the faculty. Donovan manages the Current
Awareness Program, which helps faculty stay informed of new developments in their fields,
and he supervises the library’s Research Assistant Program, a resource faculty members
can utilize for short-term projects. He also leads the team responsible for the law
school's institutional repository, the Digital Commons. 

As access services librarian, Donovan is also responsible for library functions
originating in the circulation department. In addition to scheduling the library’s hours
of operation and assuring that the service areas are properly staffed, he oversees the
reserve collection, interlibrary loan operations and document delivery services of the
library. 

Before coming to UGA, Donovan was a member of the library team at Tulane University Law
School for 11 years. Initially he worked in the government documents and microforms
department and later served as its Head of Access Services. He also taught as an adjunct
professor and instructor at Tulane’s Law School and University College. 

He currently holds an adjunct appointment to the UGA Department of Anthropology, for
which he teaches legal anthropology in the spring semesters. 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. 

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

PDF

The Moral Significance of Social Roles (2008)

Outside of specialized contexts, moral philosophy lacks an appreciation of the ethical commitments embedded within...

 

PDF

Legal Anthropology: An Introduction (2008)
LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION offers an initial overview of the challenging debates surrounding the cross-cultural...
 

PDF

"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...

 

PDF

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...

 

Civil Rights

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Broun is Mere Opportunist, Athens Banner-Herald (2009)

Only Congressman Paul Broun could compress so many misleading statements and factual errors into such...

 

PDF

Gay Marriage: The Issue, Flagpole (2009)

Comment in response to Bob Ostertag, "Why Gay Marriage Is the Wrong Issue," Flagpole, January...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...

 

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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

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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...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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]....

 

PDF

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...

 

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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

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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

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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

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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...
 

PDF

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

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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

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Rights as Fairness (2008)

Edmundson characterizes the historical emergence of the idea of human rights out of the conceptual...

 

PDF

A Foundation for Transnational Obligations (2007)

Human rights have, over the last fifty years, risen to the forefront of foreign relations....

 

PDF

"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...

 

PDF

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

PDF

Legal Anthropology: An Introduction (2008)
LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION offers an initial overview of the challenging debates surrounding the cross-cultural...
 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...
 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...

 

Legal Research and Bibliography

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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...
 

PDF

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...
 

PDF

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...
 

PDF

Quality Online Legal Researching -- On the Cheap!, The Advocate (University of Georgia School of Law) (2006)
Summarizes issues to consider when exploring the internet for free but reliable legal resources, and...
 

Libraries

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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...
 

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Libraries as Doppelgängers: A Meditation on Collection Development, Southeastern Law Librarian (2009)

Debates about the balance between electronic and paper resouces typically employ points on economics or...

 

Link

Skating on Thin Intermediation: Can Libraries Survive?, Legal Reference Services Quarterly (2008)
Predictions about the end of libraries point to a real crisis, but assign the wrong...
 

PDF

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...
 

Link

A Library Romantic’s Reply to Richard Danner, Legal Reference Services Quarterly (2008)

In this brief response to Richard A. Danner’s “Skating with Donovan: Thoughts on Librarianship as...

 

Philosophy

PDF

The Moral Significance of Social Roles (2008)

Outside of specialized contexts, moral philosophy lacks an appreciation of the ethical commitments embedded within...

 

PDF

Rights as Fairness (2008)

Edmundson characterizes the historical emergence of the idea of human rights out of the conceptual...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

A Foundation for Transnational Obligations (2007)

Human rights have, over the last fifty years, risen to the forefront of foreign relations....

 

PDF

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...

 

Psychology

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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...

 

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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...
 

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Multiple Personality, Hypnosis, and Possession Trance, Yearbook of Cross-Cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy 1994/Jahrbuch fur Transkulturelle Medizin und Psychotherapie 1994 (1996)
Multiple personality disorder [MPD] and possession trance [PT] are examined from the perspectives of presenting...
 

Public Law and Legal Theory

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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...

 

PDF

"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...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...
 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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]....

 

Sexual Orientation

PDF

Broun is Mere Opportunist, Athens Banner-Herald (2009)

Only Congressman Paul Broun could compress so many misleading statements and factual errors into such...

 

PDF

Gay Marriage: The Issue, Flagpole (2009)

Comment in response to Bob Ostertag, "Why Gay Marriage Is the Wrong Issue," Flagpole, January...

 

PDF

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...

 

PDF

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...
 

PDF

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...