Rate My Professor Matteo Taussig-Rubbo

His research interests encompass anthropology of law, comparative law, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, and social and political theory. Taussig-Rubbo examines the role of sacrifice and sacralization in neoliberal legalities, with focus on military privatization, the death penalty, and the 9/11 attacks, as well as the stranger-king tradition in postcolonial African constitutionalism. Current projects address theories of the event in climate change law and policy and the ritual dimensions of indigenous land acknowledgments. Key publications include the co-edited volume After Secular Law (Stanford University Press, 2011), "Outsourcing Sacrifice: The Labor of Private Military Contractors" in the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities (2009), "Pirate Trials, the International Criminal Court and Mob Justice: Reflections on Postcolonial Sovereignty in Kenya" in Humanity (2011), "From the 'Stranger King' to the 'Stranger Constitution': Domesticating Sovereignty in Kenya" in Constellations (2012), and "Appraising 9/11: Sacred Value and Heritage in Neoliberal Times" in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law (2016). He has contributed to service as Chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee at UB Law School (2016–2017, 2022–2024), member of the UB Faculty Senate (2018–2020), Advisory Committee for the Baldy Center (2007–2012, 2020–2025), and Editorial Committee for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science (2016–2020). Taussig-Rubbo has delivered lectures such as "Theories of the Event in Climate Change Law and Policy" at UC Berkeley in 2022 and "Property Rites and Rituals: Reflections on Land Acknowledgements" at the Association of Law, Property and Society in Sydney in 2025.