Mareike Riedel

I am a sociolegal scholar who explores the intersections of law, religion, and race. In particular, my work is concerned with law and religion in multicultural societies, religious and racial discrimination, the cultural history of secular law, and the role of law in both combatting and perpetuating antisemitism and Islamophobia.

My research has been published in the Journal of Law and Society, International Journal of Law in Context, Studies in Law, Politics and Society, Griffith Law Review, and Identities. My book Law and Jewish Difference with Cambridge University Press examines the legacy of Christian anti-Judaism in secular law and shows how this legacy undermines the rights of Jews and other racialised religious minority groups. Another line of research analyses approaches to Islamophobia in anti-discrimination law. Previously, I have worked on the regulation of artistic expression in constitutional law with a focus on works of fiction and personal rights to privacy and I maintain an interest in how law makes sense of fictional speech.

I completed my PhD in sociolegal studies at the Australian National University. Prior to joining Macquarie University, I have held research fellowships at the Australian National University, the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Since 2022, I have been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and returned in 2024 as a Visiting Fellow to the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. My research has been supported by the Max Planck Society, the Freilich Institute for the Study of Bigotry at ANU, the ANU Gender Institute, and the State Government of Saxony, Germany.