Elizabeth Rhoads

Elizabeth Rhoads is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, under The Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology. She is also a member of the LU Profile Area on Human Rights, reflecting her deep engagement with human rights issues in Southeast Asia. Her work is interdisciplinary, bridging law, anthropology, geography, and urban studies.

Education:

• PhD in Law, King's College London (Dickson Poon Fellow)
• M.A. in Human Rights Law, SOAS
• A.B. in Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College

Her research focuses on citizenship, displacement, property relations, and minority-state dynamics in Myanmar and Indonesia. She employs a multidisciplinary approach combining legal history, legal anthropology, and urban studies to examine how law shapes everyday life in contexts of political upheaval and marginalization. Her fieldwork in Myanmar and Indonesia includes work on land disputes, transitional justice, women’s political participation, and violent extremism.

The analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on legal and social exclusion in Southeast Asia, particularly around citizenship and urban informality. Her work often explores how legal frameworks produce statelessness, displacement, and spatial violence, especially in Myanmar. She frequently collaborates with local organizations and researchers, emphasizing participatory and ethical research practices during crises. Her publications span journal articles, reports, book chapters, and reviews, with increasing attention to post-coup dynamics and community resilience.

Scientific Awards and Honors:

• Dickson Poon Fellow, King's College London
• Blakemore-Freeman Fellowship for advanced Burmese language study
• British Academy Co-Investigator and Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Elizabeth Rhoads is actively involved in advising and research grants. She is currently leading a Swedish Research Council-funded project on citizenship and displacement in Myanmar in collaboration with a Burmese organization. She is also a Co-Investigator on the EU-funded EUVIP project under Horizon Europe, examining the EU’s role in the Indo-Pacific. She serves on the editorial board and as Guest Editor for Jurnal HAM, contributing to academic discourse on human rights in the region.

She has been involved in collaborative research networks focusing on spatial violence, urban informality, and legal pluralism in Southeast Asian cities. Her work emphasizes community-based and interdisciplinary methodologies, often co-producing knowledge with local actors. She contributes to public engagement through web publications and digital storytelling, such as the 'Yangon Stories' initiative.