Research

Dr. DiPaolo has written on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the American Bill of Rights, particularly on rights infringed in the name of national security. She is the author of the 2010 book Zones of Twilight: Judicial decision making in times of war (Lexington Books: 2010). She has also written on presidential leadership in times of war as well as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the NSA’s use of wiretapping both at home and abroad in the United States. More recently, her research interests have shifted towards examining human rights through the lens of popular culture. She has published on racism in AMC’s Mad Men, robotic rights and dehumanization of the other in HBO’s Westworld, and the use of nostalgia in ABC’s original Twin Peaks and its Showtime revival.  

AREAS OF INTEREST

Dr. DiPaolo has many teaching and research interests in Human Rights. Her most recent teaching interests include examining human rights violations by corporations and exploring the lack of disability rights in society despite the UN’s widely ratified Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She also commonly teaches courses on human rights and popular culture and human rights and literature.  

Her current research explores the use of popular culture to elucidate corporate disregard for human rights by examining HBO’s Succession with real-world comparators. She is also using HBO’s hit drama to examine its social class divide between main characters and how the billionaire class will also stick together despite perceived shifts in political party allegiance.