About us

Leigh A. Payne is a professor in Sociology and at the Latin American Centre; she is a member of St Antony’s College Governing Body.

Despite transitions from authoritarian rule, human rights violations continue in the Americas. Leigh’s research focuses on building human rights cultures in the region. It focuses on overcoming impunity for past abuses as well as addressing ongoing atrocities with the aim of fulfilling victims’ rights to truth, justice, and remedy. Leigh does this in her work on transitional justice, justice from below, and contentious coexistence.

Leigh’s teaching has focused on the sociology of Latin America and also on human rights. She has supervised doctoral and masters student research on human rights, transitional justice, memory, corporate human rights, Latin American social movements, women’s movements, violent groups, and indigenous movements. She welcomes applications in these areas and in other related fields.