Senior Lecturer Darren C. Zook

Darren Zook has taught and published on a wide variety of topics, including the politics of music, human rights and international law, terrorism and security studies, multiculturalism and diversity, cybersecurity, and economic policy with a focus on anti-corruption programs. His research interests have continuously grown into an unusually broad portfolio of international and comparative projects, and his work has taken him to various parts of Asia, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, Africa, and northern Europe. Zook has been recognized many times for his contributions to education and for his work as a socially-engaged scholar who strives to build bridges within and between different communities. He was the first recipient of UC Berkeley’s Golden Apple award (best professor on campus as chosen by the students), and was also named one of the “Top Ten Most Inspiring Professors at Cal” by College Magazine. 

Education

1998 Ph.D. History University of California, Berkeley

Research Areas

Politics of Music and Art, Human Rights and International Law, Terrorism and Security Studies, Multiculturalism and Diversity, Cybersecurity, Anti-Corruption Policy, Comparative Politics (Nordic countries, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia)

Contact Information

101 Stephens Hall

zookeeper@berkeley.edu

Office Hours: Thursday 1-3 PM at 122 Stephens Hall

Publications

Understanding the Misunderstanding [Part 1 of the four-part series Ourselves Among Others: Why Diversity Fails and What Will Make It Work]

Liberating the Enclave [Part 2 of the four-part series Ourselves Among Others: Why Diversity Fails and What Will Make It Work]

Writing the Past Imperfect [Part 3 of the four-part series Ourselves Among Others: Why Diversity Fails and What Will Make It Work]

Unpoisoning the Well [Part 4 of the four-part series Ourselves Among Others: Why Diversity Fails and What Will Make It Work]

Law School: A Guide for the Perplexed

“Reforming North Korea: Law, Politics, and the Market Economy,” Stanford Journal of International Law (Spring 2012)

“Burma’s Excruciating Politics,” Brown Journal of World Affairs (November 2011), online edition available at http://www.bjwa.org/blog/features/burmas-excruciating-politics/

“Disability and Democracy in Cambodia: An Integrative Approach to Community Mobilization and Local Politics,” Disability and Society (24.2, 2010)

“Making Space for Islam: Religion, Science, and Politics in Malaysia,” Journal of Asian Studies (vol. 69.4, 2010)

Oxford Encyclopedia of Peace (Oxford University Press, 2010), Nigel Young, (ed.): Three essays: (1) “Globalization”; (2) “Terrorism”; (3) “International Law”

“Disability, Democracy, and the Politics of Civic Engagement in Cambodia,” in Peter Hammer (ed.), Living on the Margins: Minorities and Borderlines in Cambodia and Southeast Asia (Siem Reap: Center for Khmer Studies, 2009)

“The Curious Case of Finland’s Clean Politics,” Journal of Democracy 20/1 (January 2009)

“Democracy and the Eloquent Constitution,” in In Pursuit of Democracy: Different Perspectives on Democracy (Bangkok: Sanya Dharmasakti Institute for Democracy, Thammasat University, 2008)

“The Irony of It All: Søren Kierkegaard and the Anxious Pleasures of Civil Society,” British Journal of the History of Philosophy (vol 16.2 (April 2008))

“Decolonizing Law: International Law, UN Reform, and the Politics of Identity,” Harvard Human Rights Journal (vol. 19, 2006)
[translated and also published as “La descolonización del derecho: Política de identidad, derechos humanos y las Naciones Unidas,” in Res Diplomatica (RD) (December 2007) (Argentina)]

“Kierkegaard’s Zoo: Humanity, Nature, and the Moral Status of Animals,” History of Philosophy Quarterly (July 2006)

“Searching for Max Havelaar: Multatuli, Colonial History, and the Confusion of Empire,” MLN (Modern Language Notes) (vol. 121.5 Winter 2006)

“Reorienting Hamsun: or, Why Glahn left Norway for India,” Scandinavian Studies 77.2 (Spring 2005)

“The Outrage of Everyday Life: Disillusionment, Despair, and the Endless Search for Justice in Premchand’s Godaan,” South Asia (vol 28.3, Winter 2005)

“The Farcical Mosaic: The Changing Masks of Political Theater in Contemporary India,” Asian Theater Journal (Fall 2001)

“Famine in the Landscape: Imagining Hunger in Indian History, 1860-1947,” in Arun Agrawal and K Sivaramakrishnan (eds.), Agrarian Environments: Resources, Representations, and Rule in India (Duke University Press, 2000)

“A Culture of Deterrence: Nuclear Myths and Cultural Chauvinism in South Asia,” World Policy Journal (Spring 2000)

“Developing the Rural Citizen: Southern India 1900-1947,” South Asia (June 2000)