Elizabeth Mertz is a

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and legal anthropologist who is also a

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practition ...

at the

University of Wisconsin Law School The University of Wisconsin Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Public university, public research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1868, the school is guided by a ...

, where she teaches family law courses. She has been on the research faculty of the

American Bar Foundation The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is a nonprofit research institute established in 1952 and located in Chicago, United States. The American Bar Foundation is located in the same building as Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in do ...

since 1989. She has a PhD in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

(where she studied with Virginia R. Domínguez and William O'Barr) and a JD from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(where she was the John Paul Stevens scholar and a Wigmore Scholar). Her early research focused on language, identity and politics in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and her dissertation dealt with language shift in Cape Breton

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

, drawing on

semiotic anthropology Semiotic anthropology is the process of using the cognitive tools of semiotics (theory of signs) to understand social structures from the anthropological perspective. The phrase was first used by Milton Singer (1978), whose work brought together th ...

. Her later research examines the language of U.S. legal education in detail using linguistic anthropological approaches (see her book ''The Language of Law School''). She writes on

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

, anthropology, and law, among other topics. She has been editor of ''

Law & Social Inquiry Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the art ...

'' and of ''PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review''.Elizabeth Mertz. "Editor's Introductions." ''PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review'', Vol. 31(1)(2) (2008); Vol. 32 (1)(2)(2009); Vol. 33(1)(S1)(2)(2010); Vol. 34(1)(2011)(Bureaucracy Symposium Introduction)
/ref>

Personal

She is the daughter of the late

Barbara Mertz Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the Universi ...

Publications

* 2007. ''The Language of Law School: Learning to 'Think Like a Lawyer'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press). * 2007. acaulay, Friedman, & Mertz''Law In Action: A Socio-Legal Reader'' (New York: Foundation Press). * 2002. reenhouse, Mertz, & Warren, eds.''Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change'' (Durham, NC: Duke University Press). * 1992. "Language, law and social meanings: linguistic anthropological contributions to the study of law." ''Law & Society Review'' 26(2):413-445. * 1985. ertz & Parmentier'Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives'' (Orlando, FL: Academic Press).

References

External links

ABF webpageUniversity of Wisconsin webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mertz, Elizabeth American anthropologists American semioticians Duke University alumni Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni University of Wisconsin Law School faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people)