John J. O’Brien Professor of Comparative Law

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“Usually people who study constitutional law sit around and read books about it,” says Scheppele. “Ethnographers, on the other hand, tend to study different forms of culture other than law. What I’m trying to do is bring these two branches together by going off and living in the countries that I study.”

By doing so, Scheppele seems intent on emulating Margaret Mead, as she investigates how laws and constitutions develop in much the way that the famed anthropologist bunked down to study the habits of South Seas islanders.

Since the 1990s, Scheppele’s intellectual wanderlust has led her to extended stays in Hungary and Russia, where, in both countries, she observed up close what democratic government and a constitution mean to people who have never had either.