Jonathan Kahn writes on a wide range of issues in history, politics, and law, with a special focus on the implications of biotechnology for our ideas of identity and citizenship. He is currently exploring the legal and ethical implication of how racial categories are produced and disseminated in the course of drug development. His recent work also examines how different areas of the law involving the management of information may be brought to bear on emerging problems presented by new developments in the field of human genetics.
Genetics is rapidly becoming not only a vast commercial enterprise but also a powerful new way of thinking about individuals and their relation to society and the state. As the metaphors and practices of genetics proliferate, "genetic citizenship" is emerging as a critical new category for assessing and assigning legal rights and duties. Dr. Kahn thus views biotechnology as an arena where constitutional law and intellectual property are intersecting in new and important ways.
Dr. Kahn holds a PhD in History from Cornell University and a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California. After graduating from law school, he practiced law for two years in Washington, DC with the firm of Hogan & Hartson. He then moved on to complete his PhD and began teaching at Bard College as Assistant and then Associate Professor of US History and Political Studies. Dr. Kahn came to the University of Minnesota from Harvard University where, from 1999 to 2001, he was a Visiting Associate Professor of Social Studies. He has also taught as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Cornell University School of Law and as a Visiting Associate Professor at Western New England School of Law. He is the recipient of several awards and fellowships. Most recently, he was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support his on-going project, "The Subject of Rights: Identity and Equality in American Law."

Selected Publications

Books
Kahn JD. Budgeting Democracy: State-Building and Citizenship in America, 1890-1928. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.

Articles
Kahn JD. Abe Fortas. In Urofsky M (ed.) Biographical Entry in The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York, NY: Garland, 1994.
Kahn JD. What's the Use? Law and Authority in Patenting Human Genetic Material. Stanford Law & Policy Review, forthcoming.
Kahn JD. Privacy as a Legal Principle of Identity Maintenance. Seton Hall Law Review, forthcoming.
Kahn JD. The King & I. Book Review of Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris. Constitutional Commentary, forthcoming.
Kahn JD. WhatÕs In a Name? Law's Identity Under the Tort of Appropriation. Temple Law Review 2001;74:263-298.
Kahn JD. Product Liability and the Politics of Corporate Presence: Identity and Accountability in MacPherson v. Buick. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 2001;35:3-64.
Kahn JD. Biotechnology and the Legal Constitution the Self: Managing Identity in Science, the Market, and Society. Hastings Law Journal 2000;51:909-952.
Kahn JD. Bringing Dignity Back to Light: Publicity Rights and the Eclipse of the Tort of Appropriation of Identity. Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 1999;17:213-272.
Kahn JD. Enslaving the Image: The Origins of the Tort of Appropriation of Identity Reconsidered. Legal Theory 1996;2:301-324.
Kahn JD. Re-Presenting Government and Representing the People: Budget Publicity and Citizenship in New York City, 1908-1911. Journal of Urban History 1993;19:84-103.