Associate Professor, Philosophy, Affiliations: Honors, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Pre-Law
“Food Security as a Human Rights Issue.” In Christopher Bosso (ed.) Feeding Cities: Improving Local Food Access, Security and Sovereignty. (Routledge, 2017).
“A Defense of the Human Right to Adequate Food.” Res Publica (2016).
“Is Coercion Necessary for Law? The Role of Coercion in International and Domestic Law.” Washington University Jurisprudence Review (2015).
Book Review: “Allen Buchanan: The Heart of Human Rights.” Philosophy in Review (2015).
“What Is Required to Institutionalize Kant’s Cosmopolitan Ideal?” Journal of International Political Theory (2014).
“Meaning and Melancholia in Beckett’s ‘Endgame.’” Journal of Social and Political Thought (2003).
“Grounding a Cause of Action for Torture in Transnational Law.” In Craig Scott (ed.) Torture as Tort: Comparative Perspectives on the Development of Transnational Human Rights Litigation (2001).
Jennifer Llewellyn & Sandra Raponi, “The Protection of Human Rights Through International Criminal Law: A Conversation with Madam Justice Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.” University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review (1999).
Dr. Raponi has a law degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. She has taught at the University of Toronto, York University’s Glendon College, and the University of British Columbia.
Her research focuses on legal and political philosophy, particularly on global justice and international human rights law. She has published articles and given presentations on the human right to adequate food, our duties to refugees, the nature of international law, and Kant’s political philosophy. Recently, she has given presentations on human rights-based climate litigation and water as a human right and common good. She has also given presentations on online harassment and hate speech.
In addition to being the Advisor for the Law, Ethics, and Society Minor at Merrimack College, she has served as the Chair of the Philosophy Department and the Director of the Social Justice Program at Merrimack College.
Her legal experience includes an internship at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and working on a constitutional challenge for Justice for Children and Youth (a legal clinic in Toronto).
Dr. Raponi’s article on “Grounding a Cause of Action for Torture in Transnational Law” was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in a ground-breaking case that established that private corporations can be held accountable for human rights violations committed in other countries (Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya, 2020). In this case, workers in a Canadian-based mining company in Eritrea claimed that their human rights to be free from forced labor, torture, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment were violated.
Her article, “A Defense of the Human Right to Adequate Food,“ was awarded the Early Career Scholar Prize from the American Section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (AMINTAPHIL). She has been asked to give guest lectures on this issue at other colleges.
Dr. Raponi has taught Introduction to Social Justice and philosophy courses on Human Rights, Global Justice, the Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy, Theories of Justice, Ethics, Biomedical Ethics, Introduction to Philosophy, and Identity, Meaning, and Purpose. She has also taught a graduate MPA course on Bioethics and Public Policy. She is passionate about what she teaches and tries to encourage thoughtful dialogue, personal reflection, critical analysis, and original thinking through interactive classes and different kinds of assignments and activities.
As the daughter of Italian immigrants and a first-generation college graduate, Dr. Raponi is happy to support other first-generation students and students from immigrant families. She has been meditating and practicing Zen Buddhism for many years. She enjoys playing the piano, going to concerts, getting her hands dirty on the pottery wheel, and making Neapolitan pizza in her outdoor pizza oven. Her furry companion is a sweet three-legged rescue cat named Jade.
