Bernadette Atuahene

Research Professor
- 750 N. Lake Shore Drive
- 4th Floor
- Chicago, IL 60611
- Contact
Joint appointment
Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Education
J.D., Yale Law School; M.P.A., Harvard University; B.A. University of California, Los Angeles
Curriculum vitae
Bio
Bernadette Atuahene is a professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, and a research professor at the American Bar Foundation. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2002, her M.P.A. from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2002, and her B.A. in 1997 (magna cum laude) from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Professor…
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Research focus
Law and international development, particularly the dispossession and restitution of property rights in the developing world. Research has examined the challenges faced by transitional democracies that provide compensation for past property dispossession, as well as how land titling programs can best address urban poverty.
Projects
Conceptualizing Property Takings
- Using the concept of a “dignity taking,” linking the unconsented taking of property rights with the deprivation of dignity, this research project seeks to further understand the…
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Publications
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"Predatory Cities"
- California Law Review
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"Taxed Out: Illegal Property Tax Assessments and the Epidemic of Tax Foreclosures in Detroit"
- UC Irvine Law Review
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"Stategraft"
- Southern California Law Review
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Commentary
Jan 14, 2021
The Scandal of the Predatory City (NY Times Op-Ed)
Sep 6, 2018
In this September 2017 , Atuahene discusses the property tax foreclosure crisis in Detroit.
Sep 6, 2018
In a July 2017 NY Times op-ed, Atuahene discusses the high rates of property tax foreclosures in Detroit, Michigan and how they are the result of illegal property tax assessments and inflated…
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Presentations
- We Want What's Ours: Learning from South Africa's Land Restitution Program
- Jan 2014
- Speaker, Workshop on Poverty, Immigration and Property
- Jun 2013
- Property-Induced Invisibility: When the Expropriation of Property Removes People from the Social Contract
- Oct 2012
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Professional Service & Recognition
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Associate Editor, Law & Social Inquiry
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Trustee, Law & Society Association
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Fellow, Program in Law and Public Affairs, Princeton University
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Fellow, Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership
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Editor, SSRN Transitional Justice eJournal
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International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
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Adviser to Illinois State Senator Jacqueline Collins on the legal challenge to the Illinois Act to End Atrocities and Terrorism in Sudan