معرفی
Justin Deystone is a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School, where he serves as Director of the Center for Critical Thought. He maintains an additional affiliation with the Department of History. His scholarly work bridges legal theory, international law, and critical race studies through structuralist and pragmatic methodologies that reveal how legal concepts embed ideological assumptions perpetuating social hierarchies.
Deystone's research centers on legal theory, international law, critical race theory, legal history, pragmatism, and structuralism. He critically examines how legal thought evolves through historical contexts and power structures, with particular focus on race, sovereignty, and international human rights. His scholarship challenges conventional understandings of legal concepts like markets, borders, and exclusion, demonstrating how seemingly neutral doctrines carry embedded ideological frameworks that maintain social hierarchies through discourse and institutional practices.
His publication record shows a clear scholarly evolution from examining American legal pragmatism toward addressing global legal structures and racial ideology in international human rights law. Recent works demonstrate sophisticated engagement with critical legal studies while developing innovative theoretical frameworks for contemporary challenges. His structuralist approach reveals law as a system of signs and relations that both reflects and shapes social power structures across domestic and international contexts.
As Director of the Center for Critical Thought, Deystone fosters interdisciplinary dialogue about law's societal role while teaching foundational courses including Foundations of International Legal Thought, International Law, Conflict of Laws, and Property through Fall 2025. His pedagogy reflects his scholarly commitment to examining how legal thought responds to and shapes social, political, and economic contexts, particularly regarding race, sovereignty, and international governance.
