William P Simmons

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Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Simmons, W. P. (2014). Binational Human Rights: The U.S.-Mexico Experience. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.
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  "A timely intervention, Binational Human Rights brings together works by a diverse array of scholars from U.S. and Mexican universities to provide a much-needed binational understanding of the political and economic forces that render poor citizens and migrants vulnerable to human rights abuse."—Alicia Schmidt Camacho, Yale University"Simmons and Mueller have assembled a great set of studies that use a mix of qualitative and quantitative evidence to provide solid explanation and understanding of the many complexities surrounding Mexico as a human rights outlier. This is a great contribution to a heated and controversial set of issues."—Todd Landman, University of EssexMexico ranks highly on many of the measures that have proven significant for creating a positive human rights record, including democratization, good health and life expectancy, and engagement in the global economy. Yet the nation's most vulnerable populations suffer human rights abuses on a large scale, such as gruesome killings in the Mexican drug war, decades of violent feminicide, migrant deaths in the U.S. desert, and the ongoing effects of the failed detention and deportation system in the States. Some atrocities have received extensive and sensational coverage, while others have become routine or simply ignored by national and international media. Binational Human Rights examines both well-known and understudied instances of human rights crises in Mexico, arguing that these abuses must be understood not just within the context of Mexican policies but in relation to the actions or inactions of other nations—particularly the United States.The United States and Mexico share the longest border in the world between a developed and a developing nation; the relationship between the two nations is complex, varied, and constantly changing, but the policies of each directly affect the human rights situation across the border. Binational Human Rights brings together leading scholars and human rights activists from the United States and Mexico to explain the mechanisms by which a perfect storm of structural and policy factors on both sides has led to such widespread human rights abuses. Through ethnography, interviews, and legal and economic analysis, contributors shed new light on the feminicides in Ciudad Juárez, the drug war, and the plight of migrants from Central America and Mexico to the United States. The authors make clear that substantial rhetorical and structural shifts in binational policies are necessary to significantly improve human rights.Contributors: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, Luis Alfredo Arriola Vega, Timothy J. Dunn, Miguel Escobar-Valdez, Clara Jusidman, Maureen Meyer, Carol Mueller, Julie A. Murphy Erfani, William Paul Simmons, Kathleen Staudt, Michelle Téllez.
• Simmons, W. P. (2011). Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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  Description Contents Resources Courses About the Authors This is a groundbreaking application of contemporary philosophy to human rights law that proposes several significant innovations for the progressive development of human rights. Drawing on the works of prominent “philosophers of the Other” including Emmanuel Levinas, Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, Judith Butler, and most centrally the Argentine philosopher of liberation Enrique Dussel, this book develops an ethics based on concrete face-to-face relationships with the Marginalized Other. It proposes that this ethics should inspire a human rights law that is grounded in transcendental justice and framed from the perspective of marginalized groups. Such law would continuously deconstruct the original violence found in all human rights treaties and tribunals and promote preferential treatment for the marginalized. It would be especially attentive to such issues as access to justice, voice, representation, agency, and responsibility. This approach differs markedly from more conventional theories of human rights that prioritize the autonomy of the ego, state sovereignty, democracy, and/or equality. One of the most extensive engagements between contemporary philosophy and human rights law to date Makes important contributions to recent ethical philosophies and then applies the resulting framework to a wide range of cases from around the globe Has well-developed critiques of prevailing deliberative and liberal approaches to human rights

Chapters

• Simmons, W. P., & LeBlanc, J. R. (2021). Terror, Nihilism, and Joy: Reconsidering Camus’s Confrontation with Political Violence. In Welcoming the Other: Student, Stranger, and Divine.
• Simmons, W. P., & Feldman, L. (2018). Critical Ethnography and Human Rights Research. In Research Methods in Human Rights(pp 114-133). London: Routledge.
• Simmons, W. P., & O'Leary, A. O. (2018). Reproductive Justice and Resistance at the U.S.- Mexico Borderlands. In Reproductive Justice. (Eds) Erika Derkas, Loretta Ross, Lynn Roberts, and Pamela Bridgewater(pp 306-325). NY/CUNY: Feminist Press.
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  Drawing on research of the reproductive healthcare strategies of women, this paper explores the creative and multiple forms of resistance employed by immigrant women to retain control of their sexual health and reproductive choices.
• O'Leary, A. O., & Simmons, W. P. (2017). Reproductive Justice and Resistance at the U.S.- Mexico Borderlands. In Reproductive Justice: An Anthology. NY/CUNY: Feminist press.
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  Drawing on research of the reproductive healthcare strategies of women, this paper explores the creative and multiple forms of resistance employed by immigrant women to retain control of their sexual health and reproductive choices.
• Simmons, W. P. (2017). Levinas’ Divine Comedy and Archbishop Romero’s Joyful Laughter. In Comedy Begins with Our Simplest Gestures: Levinas, Ethics, and Humor(p. 30). Duquesne University Press.
• Simmons, W. P., & Hammer, L. M. (2017). The Human Right to Dignity and Commodification of Prisoners: Considering Worldwide Challenges to Prison Privatization. In Privatization, Vulnerability, and Social Responsibility(p. 30). UK: Ashgate.
• Simmons, W., & Hammer, L. (2016). The human right to dignity and commodification of prisoners: Considering worldwide challenges to prison privatization. In Privatization, Vulnerability, and Social Responsibility. Taylor and Francis. doi:10.4324/9781315387543
• Simmons, W. P. (2014). Binational Human Rights Violations, Structural Violence, and Pessimism. In Binational Human Rights: The U.S. - Mexico Experience(p. 12). Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Simmons, W. P., & Casper, M. J. (2014). Calculated Losses: Measuring Infant Mortality, Discounting Women’s Lives. In Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics(p. 25). Demeter Press.
• Simmons, W. P., & Mueller, C. (2014). Introduction. In Binational Human Rights: The U.S. - Mexico Experience(p. 24). Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Simmons, W. P., & Tellez, M. (2014). Sexual Violence against Migrant Women and Children in Arizona. In Binational Human Rights: The U.S. - Mexico Experience(p. 30). Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Simmons, W. P. (2012). Making the Teaching of Social Justice Matter. In Real Social Science(p. 19). New York: Cambridge University Press.
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  Simmons’ chapter is of particular interest for at least two reasons. First, because it is the only one in the book that addresses the problem of ‘teaching’ phronesis (aren’t we, after all, also teachers?). Second, and most importantly, because it offers an original take on phronesis itself, based on a notion of power derived from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the oppressed (2007 [1968]). From this account, we learn that in order to defeat the ‘hegemonic power structures’ of our academic knowledge (and, I would add, paraphrasing Flyvbjerg, of our academic contexts), social scientists ‘must work with marginalized communities to call into question academic knowledge itself through the co-generation of new knowledge’ (p. 247). This is a point, as I will argue in the conclusions, which could really make a positive difference in the future of social science (which was Flyvbjerg’s main concern in introducing phronesis in the first instance). (Journal of Political Power 2013, 151)

Journals/Publications

• Simmons, W. (2024). Rethinking Dignity and Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Sex Workers’ Rights Cases. Societies, 14(2). doi:10.3390/soc14020016
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  As forced migration increases dramatically due to such factors as climate change, rising conflict, and authoritarianism, more legal cases on human trafficking and sex work are sure to arise. To date, very few cases on these issues have been decided in international human rights tribunals, and they have been subject to extensive criticism, especially for their conflation of slavery, human trafficking, forced prostitution, and consensual sex work. This article analyzes recent jurisprudence from Europe and Africa to address this conceptual confusion and argue that tribunals must interrogate their use of the terms dignity and exploitation or risk further marginalizing already marginalized people.
• Ahmed, S., Simmons, W., Chowdhury, R., & Huq, S. (2021). The sustainability–peace nexus in crisis contexts: how the Rohingya escaped the ethnic violence in Myanmar, but are trapped into environmental challenges in Bangladesh. Sustainability Science, 16(4). doi:10.1007/s11625-021-00955-6
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  Because of ethnic and cultural violence in Myanmar, approximately a million Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh starting from August 2017, in what the UN has called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. Those arriving in Bangladesh were able to escape decade-long ethnic violence in Myanmar, but the Rohingya’s immediate destination, Cox’s Bazar district is one of the most climate-vulnerable and disaster-prone areas in Bangladesh. Currently, they have been subjected to extreme rainfalls, landslides, and flashfloods. With the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to face fear and further marginalization in resource-constrained Bangladesh, as well as increased vulnerability due to tropical cyclones, flashfloods, and landslides. The Rohingya in southeast Bangladesh are now at the epicenter of a humanitarian and sustainability crisis. However, their situation is not entirely unique. Millions of displaced, stateless or refugees around the world are facing multi-dimensional crises in various complex geopolitical, and climatic situations. Using the theoretical lens of political ecology and critical development studies, this paper analyzes the sustainability–peace nexus for millions of Rohingya in Myanmar and in Bangladesh. This paper is based on information from various sources, including three ethnographic field visits in recent years, which helped to get local insights into the current sustainability challenges in this humanitarian context. The core arguments of this paper suggest that sustainability–peace nexus will especially be compromised in climate-vulnerable resource-constrained conditions. To overcome this challenge, decolonizing Rohingya solutions would be critical, by engaging the Rohingya in the process of development and meaningful change, which can affect their lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing. Even though this paper has a specific geographical focus, the insights are relevant in parts of the world facing similar social, economic, political, and environmental challenges.
• Simmons, W. P., Boynton, J., & Landman, T. (2021). Facilitated Communication, Neurodiversity, and Human Rights. Human Rights Quarterly.
• Simmons, W., Valdez, E., & Menjívar, C. (2021). The Gendered Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement: Latinas’ Social Isolation in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. International Migration Review, 55(1). doi:10.1177/0197918320905504
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  The 2017 revitalization of the controversial Security Communities program, which requires local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials in the United States, has made it urgent to better understand such enforcement programs’ effects on the well-being of Latinas/os, especially the foreign-born. Social isolation from increased immigration enforcement can have significant impacts on economic, social, and health outcomes among Latina/o immigrants and non-immigrants. This article analyzes the gendered impacts of different levels of increased local involvement in immigration enforcement on social isolation, using a survey of over 2000 Latinas/os in four large US cities, all considered to be traditional destinations. Unsurprisingly, respondents reported increased social isolation resulting from local law enforcement’s involvement in immigration enforcement. In contrast to results from previous research, our analysis found that women and men were equally likely to feel socially isolated and that having children led to more social isolation for both women and men. Personal and vicarious experiences with immigration enforcement, as well as living in Phoenix and Houston — two urban areas with the strictest enforcement regimes — were strongly related to social isolation. Our results indicate that local authorities’ increased involvement in immigration enforcement can lead to more social isolation for Latina immigrants, particularly those who have children, aligning their experiences with men’s and, thus, undermining Latinas’ previously recognized role as bridges between their families and social institutions and as community builders.
• Simmons, W. P. (2016). Moments of Negation, Duration, and Human Rights Law without Judges. Teoria e Critica della Regolazione Sociale, 25.
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  Invited to submit by editor and then blind peer reviewed.
• Simmons, W. P. (2019). Problem-Based Learning beyond Borders: Impact and Potential for University-Level Human Rights Education. Journal of Human Rights.
• Simmons, W. P. (2020). he Gendered Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement: Latinas’ Social Isolation in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. International Migration Review.
• Simmons, W. P., Menjivar, C., & Salerno Valdez, E. (2020). “The Gendered Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement: Latinas’ Social Isolation in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix”. International Migration Review.
• Simmons, W. P. (2019). Problem-Based Learning beyond Borders: Impact and Potential for University-Level Human Rights Education”. Journal of Human Rights, 18(3), 280-292.
• Simmons, W. P., Menjivar, C., Alvord, D., & Salerno Valdez, E. (2018). Immigration Enforcement, the Racialization of Legal Status, and Perceptions of the Police: Latinos in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Phoenix in Comparative Perspective. DuBois Review, 15(1), 107-128.
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  The immigration enforcement system today affects different subgroups of Latinos; it reaches beyond the undocumented to immigrants who hold legal statuses and even to the U.S.-born. States have enacted their own enforcement collaboration agreements with federal authorities and thus Latinos may have dissimilar experiences based on where they live. This article examines the effects of enforcement schemes on Latinos’ likelihood of reporting crimes to police and views of law enforcement. It includes documented and U.S-born Latinos to capture the spillover beyond the undocumented, and it is based on four metropolitan areas—Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, and Chicago—to comparatively assess the effects of various enforcement contexts. Empirically, it relies on data from a random sample survey of over 2000 Latinos conducted in 2012 in these four cities. Results show that spillover effects vary by context and legal/citizenship status: Latino immigrants with legal status are less inclined to report to the police as compared to U.S.-born Latinos in Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix but not in Chicago. At the other end, the spillover effect in Phoenix is so strong that it almost reaches to U.S.-born Latinos. The spillover effect identified is possible due to the close association between being Latino or Mexican and being undocumented, underscoring the racialization of legal status and of immigration enforcement today.
• Tellez, M., Simmons, W. P., & del Hierro, M. (2018). Border Crossings and the Legacy of Sexual Conquest in the Age of Neoliberalism in the Sonoran Desert. International Journal of Feminist Politics, 20(4), 524-541.
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  This article examines the liminal space of the desert borderlands as a scene of routinized sexualized and gendered violence against migrant women border crossers. We explore the human consequences of a philosophy of attrition that is the cornerstone of the US immigration system. Using border sexual conquest and the coloniality of power as lenses, we examine how global neoliberalism represents a form of contemporary conquest that normalizes sexual and gendered violence at transnational locations.
• Simmons, W. P., & Hammer, L. M. (2015). Privatization of Prisons and Immigration Detention Facilities in Arizona: A Per Se Violation of Human Rights?. Santa Clara Journal of International Law, 40.
• Simmons, W. P., Menjivar, C., & Tellez, M. (2015). Violence and Vulnerability of Migrants in Drop Houses in Arizona: The Predictable Outcome of a Chain Reaction of Violence. Violence against Women, 23.
• Simmons, W. P., & Casper, M. J. (2012). Culpability, Social Triage, and Structural Violence in the Aftermath of Katrina. Perspectives on Politics, 10(3), 12.
• Simmons, W., & Parsons, S. (2005). Beliefs in conspiracy theories among African Americans: A comparison of elites and masses. Social Science Quarterly, 86(3). doi:10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00319.x
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  Objective. Several studies have reported a widespread belief in conspiracy theories among African Americans. Such theories have been shown to have possible deleterious effects, especially when they deal with HIV/AIDS. It has been conjectured that African-American elites could play a role in dispelling these beliefs, unless, of course, they believe in these theories themselves. To examine this possibility the present study examines the conspiratorial beliefs of African-American locally elected officials in Louisiana and compares them with a previous study of African-American churchgoers in the same state. Methods. A systematic sample of 400 African-American locally elected officials was drawn from a list of all African-American elected officials in the state and 170 officials completed and returned the mail survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and OLS regression were used to analyze the attitude structure and determinants of beliefs, respectively. Results. The locally elected officials believe in these theories as much as the churchgoers and the structures of their beliefs are also very similar. In some very important ways, however, the predictors of these beliefs differ between the two samples. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that beliefs in conspiracy theories are widespread and that African-American locally elected officials will not seek to dispel these beliefs. © 2005 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.
• Parsons, S., Simmons, W., Penn, K., & Furlough, M. (2003). Determinants of satisfaction and turnover among nursing assistants. The results of a statewide survey.. Journal of gerontological nursing, 29(3). doi:10.3928/0098-9134-20030301-11
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  This research is an examination of job satisfaction and turnover among nursing assistants employed in nursing homes. Using a statewide sample with 550 nursing assistants responding, the results indicated that 60% were satisfied with their jobs and 30% planned to quit. The nursing assistants participating in this study identified the relationship with the resident as the most important work issue, and their major reason for staying in the job. They were most dissatisfied with pay, benefits, and recognition and appreciation. Although the respondents were dissatisfied with benefits and salary, these work issues could not explain overall satisfaction or turnover. The multivariate analysis confirmed that professional growth and involvement in work-related decisions, supervision, and management keeping employees informed were significantly related to both turnover and overall satisfaction.
• Arp, W., Simmons, W., & Cottrell, C. (1999). Black democratic partisanship and white flight in Louisiana, 1975 through 1996. Journal of Black Studies, 29(6). doi:10.1177/002193479902900601
• Parsons, S., Simmons, W., Shinhoster, F., & Kilburn, J. (1999). A test of the grapevine: An empirical examination of conspiracy theories among african americans. Sociological Spectrum, 19(2). doi:10.1080/027321799280235
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  This research examines the prevalence of belief in conspiracy theories among African Americans in one Deep South state and identifies the factors related to these beliefs. Overall, there is a surprisingly strong belief in most conspiracy theories involving government. Over 85 % of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that African Americans are harassed by police because of their race and that the criminal justice system is not fair to Blacks. The theories with the least support involved transracial adoption, family planning, and needle - exchange programs as genocide. Through factor analysis, the 11 conspiracy theory questions were combined into conceptual scales. The theories grouped into two distinct factors - malicious intent and benign neglect, with benign theories the more prevalent of the two. Suprisingly, age, gender, and education were not significant in explaining beliefs in malicious intent or benign neglect conspiracy theories. Among the interesting differences between the two groups of theories, church attendance was not significantly related to support for malicious intent theories, whereas it was negatively related to support for benign theories. The most important variable for explaining belief in conspiracies was the perceived involvement by African Americans in government. Those who believed that Blacks could influence the political process were less likely to believe in conspiracy theories. This finding suggests that such beliefs in conspiracy theories will not be reduced until African Americans perceive that they have more of a role to play in their government. © 1999 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
• Simmons, W. (1999). The third: Levinas' theoretical move from an-archical ethics to the realm of justice and politics. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 25(6). doi:10.1177/019145379902500604
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  Emmanuel Levinas' radical heteronomous ethics has received a great deal of scholarly attention. However, his political thought remains relatively neglected. This essay shows how Levinas moves from the anarchical, ethical relationship with the Other to the totalizing realm of politics with his phenomenology of the third person, the Third. With the appearance of the Third, the ego must respond to more than one Other. It must decide whom to respond to first. This decision leads the ego from the an-archical, ethical realm to the realm of politics. Although the Third universalizes the an-archical relationship with the Other into the political realm, it does not supplant the original ethical relationship. Instead, there is a never-ending oscillation between ethics and politics. The world of institutions and impersonal justice must be held in check by the an-archical responsibility for the Other. Levinas calls for both an-archy and justice. © 1999 SAGE Publications.

Presentations

• Simmons, W. P. (2015, April). The Joys of Political Theory. Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association. Las Vegas.
• Simmons, W. P., & Casper, M. J. (2015, June). Doing Justice for Human Rights Victims in Regional Tribunals. “Human Rights and Justice,” ISA Human Rights Joint Conference. The Hague: International Studies Association.
• Simmons, W. P., Simmons, W. P., Hammer, L. M., & Hammer, L. M. (2015, April). Commodifying Incarcerated Bodies in the U.S., Israel, and Beyond. Open Embodiments: Locating Somatachnics in Tucson. Tucson, AZ.
• Simmons, W. P. (2018, June). States of Exception, Governance, and Drug Trafficking Organizations along Human Smuggling Routes in West Africa and the US-Mexico Corridor. Annual Meetings of the Academic Council of the UN System. Rome, Italy: Academic Council of the UN System.
• Simmons, W. P. (2017, October). “Joyful Human Rights Activism”. at The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy.. University of Dayton.
• Simmons, W. P., & Hammer, L. M. (2017, June). “Implications of Pervasive Maltreatment and Mislabeling of Female Trafficking Victims and Consensual Sex Workers in Arizona, USA: Towards a Comparative Perspective”. Irregular Migrants, Refugees or Victims of Human-Trafficking? Analysis, Advocacy and Assistance between Categorizations and (Self-) Identifications, International Seminar on Mixed Migration,. Bangkok Thailand.
• Simmons, W. P. (2016, January). Doing Critical Civic Innovation Research. ISS Dialogue on Civic Innovation Research. The Hague, Netherlands: Erasmus University.
• Simmons, W. P. (2016, January). Migrant Women’s Vulnerabilities and Structural Violence A Comparative Analysis between the U.S.-Mexico and European-African Borderlands. Public Lecture. Vrjie University, Amsterdam: Co-organised by the Migration Diversity Centre (MDC) at the VU and UvA, and ACCESS EUROPE.
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  This talk is intended to open up a dialogue in comparative immigration studies that explores common causes, experiences, and forms of resilience in both the U.S.-Mexico and European-African contexts. William Simmons, together with his colleagues Cecilia Menjívar and Michelle Téllez, has developed the term “chain reaction of violence” to explain how policies, even some that are well-intentioned, have led to the tragic deaths of migrants in the Arizona desert and the shockingly high percentage of sexual violence against migrant women and children. Conducting etnographies in West African countries Gambia and Senegal, he observed similar mechanisms of violence.With discussion with Polly Pallister-Wilkins
• Simmons, W. P. (2015, October). Global Human Rights Direct: Disrupting Hegemonic Discourses through the Voices of the Marginalized. The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy. University of Dayton.
• Simmons, W. P. (2014, August). Navigating Fluid States of Exception at the U.S.-Mexico Border. Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. San Francisco.
• Simmons, W. P. (2014, June). Joyful Human Rights Martyrs. ISA Human Rights Joint Conference, Istanbul Turkey. Istanbul, Turkey: International Studies Association.
• Simmons, W. P. (2014, May). From Ethics to Justice: Phenomenologies of the Saturated and Joyful Other. Annual Meeting of the North American Levinas Society. Ocean City, Maryland: North American Levinas Society.
• Simmons, W. P. (2013, April). The Role of Sinister Joy in Human Rights Abuses: A Reconsideration of Evil in the Light of Joyful Human Rights. Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association. San Francisco.
• Simmons, W. P. (2012, August). Joyful Human Rights. American Sociological Association Pre-Conference: “Theories and Practices of Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Denver.

Reviews

• Simmons, W. P. (2019. Book Review of Human Rights and Care of the Self. Perspectives on Politics.
• Simmons, W. P. (2012. Book Review of Liberalism without Perfection by Jonathan Quong(p. 3). Perspectives on Politics.

Others

• Simmons, W. P. (2012, Summer). CSO Strategy to Promote Child Rights in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. International Research Report - submitted to the Swedish Development Agency and the Republic of the Gambia.