Oche Onazi is Senior Lecturer in law at the University of Stirling. Prior to this, Oche was Senior Lecturer in Law at Northumbria University (2020-23) and Lecturer in Law at the Universities of Southampton (2016-20) and Dundee (2011-16) respectively. Oche was an International Social Research Foundation (ISRF) Early Career Fellow (2015-18).
Oche holds degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh (Ph.D.), Warwick (LL.M.) and Jos (LL.B.) and is a qualified (but non-practising) barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Oche's research interests span legal philosophy, human rights, and law in development. His work encompasses two interconnected themes. The first involves the theoretical study of law from southern perspectives, incorporating critical approaches from disciplines such as sociology, politics, history, and philosophy. The second theme focuses on the role of law in development, particularly examining the relationship between human rights and development, community-based approaches to development, moral-philosophical perspectives on poverty and development, and the intersection of human rights and global justice from southern, critical, and moral-philosophical viewpoints.
Recently, Oche's research has concentrated on disability justice within the context of African legal philosophy and African philosophy. He is the author of An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations (Springer, 2020) (see book launch conversation with Tom Shakespeare and Julie Maybee here: https://www.isrf.org/events/book-launches/an-african-path-to-disability-justice/ ), Human Rights from Community: A Rights-Based Approach to Development (Edinburgh University Press, 2013), and editor of African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems (Springer, 2014).
Oche has contributed to numerous book chapters and published articles in journals such as Law and Critique, Law, Social Justice & Global Development, Global Jurist, International Journal of Law in Context, and Review of Disability Studies. He is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Philosophy of Disability and Oxford Studies in Disability, Ethics and Society.
Book Chapter
Onazi O (2024) Decolonising Disability Studies: Conceptualising Disability Justice from an African relational community ideal. In: Disability Intersectional Colonialities: Embodied Colonial Violence and Practices of Resistance at the Axis of Disability, Race, Indigeneity, Class, and Gender. 1st Edition ed. Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003280422
Article
What Obligations should be owed to [African] People with Disabilities?
Onazi O (2022) What Obligations should be owed to [African] People with Disabilities?. Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, 18 (1&2), p. 27.
Book Chapter
Onazi O (2022) “Resisting Apathy and Antipathy for Community in Human-Rights and Development Discourse: Locality, Human Interdependence and Participation. In: Beyond Law and Development: Resistance, Empowerment and Social Justice. 1st ed. Law, Development and Globalisation. London: Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203745298/beyond-law-development-sam-adelman-abdul-paliwala; https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203745298
Other
Towards an African path to Disability Justice
Onazi O (2021) Towards an African path to Disability Justice. ISRF Bulletin, 24. https://www.isrf.org/2021/08/24/towards-an-african-path-to-disability-justice/
Authored Book
An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations
Onazi O (2020) An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations. 1st ed. : Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice (IUSGENT, volume 78). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-35850-1#:~:text=Oche%20Onazi%27s%20An%20African%20Path,human%20rights%20and%20capabilities%20frameworks.; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35850-1
Article
[Disability] Justice Dictated by the Surfeit of Love: Simone Weil in Nigeria
Onazi O (2017) [Disability] Justice Dictated by the Surfeit of Love: Simone Weil in Nigeria. Law and Critique, 28 (1), pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-016-9191-2
Other
An African Legal Philosophy of Disability Justice: Between Discovery and Recognition
Onazi O (2016) An African Legal Philosophy of Disability Justice: Between Discovery and Recognition. ISRF Bulletin, (X).
Authored Book
Human Rights from Community: A Rights-Based Approach to Development
Onazi O (2015) Human Rights from Community: A Rights-Based Approach to Development. Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights. Edinburgh University Press.
Book Chapter
Legal Empowerment of the Poor: Does Political Participation Matter?
Onazi O (2014) Legal Empowerment of the Poor: Does Political Participation Matter?. In: African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems: Critical Essays. : Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 29)). Springer.
Book Chapter
Before Rights and Responsibilities: An African Ethos of Citizenship
Onazi O (2014) Before Rights and Responsibilities: An African Ethos of Citizenship. In: African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems: Critical Essays. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 29)). Springer.
Book Chapter
Onazi O (2014) Introduction. In: African legal theory and contemporary problems: critical essays. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 29)). Springer.
Edited Book
African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems: Critical Essays
(2014) African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems: Critical Essays. Ius Gentium: comparative perspectives on law and justice. Springer.
Book Chapter
What’s Love Got to do with Development?
Onazi O (2013) What’s Love Got to do with Development?. In: The Anxiety of a Jurist: Legality, Exchange and Judgement. Edinburgh/Glasgow Law and Society Series. Ashgate.
Book Chapter
Onazi O (2013) Access to Essential Environmental Technologies and Poor Communities: Why Human Rights Should Be Prioritized. In: Environmental Technologies, Intellectual Property and Climate Change: Accessing, Obtaining and Protecting. Edward Elgar.
Edited Proceedings
(2012) Human Rights, Language and Law: Proceedings of the 24th World Congress of the International Association of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, Beijing 2009. volume II, 28.07.2009-31.07.2009. Franz Steiner Verlag.
Article
Towards a Subaltern of Theory of Human Rights
Onazi O (2009) Towards a Subaltern of Theory of Human Rights. Global Jurist (Advances). https://doi.org/10.2202/1934-2640.1307
Article
“The Moral Quality of Work in International Economic Institutions: Resisting Complacency
Onazi O (2009) “The Moral Quality of Work in International Economic Institutions: Resisting Complacency. International Journal of Law in Context, 4 (4). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744552309004030
Oche teaches on the MSc Programme in Human Rights and Diplomacy at the University of Stirling
