By Annette Finley-Croswhite and Victoria Time
Dr. Victoria Time is an international scholar born in Cameroon and educated in both Africa and the United States. She came to Old Dominion University in 1997 where she has been recognized as an outstanding faculty member and professor of sociology and criminal justice. Dr. Time is a distinguished teacher who holds the title University Professor in recognition of excellence in teaching. In 2022-2023 she became a Fulbright Scholar and conducted research and taught at the University of Nairobi. Dr. Time has published three books, thirty-seven articles and book chapters, and she has presented her research on all continents except Antarctica. Dr. Time exemplifies what it means to be a scholar-teacher.
Dr. Time has wide-ranging interests. With degrees in both law and criminology (she holds five degrees), she has published widely on a variety of themes including theories of crime and deviance in the works of William Shakespeare, the social and legal barriers that disadvantage women in Africa, and grassroots mediation techniques used in local communities in Kenya to resolve disputes, to name just a few of the topics of her scholarly research.
Dr. Time will be the guest of honor at the Spring Provost’s Spotlight recognizing her work and accomplishments. The event will be held in the Yetiv Auditorium in the Batten College of Arts and Letters on April 4 from 12:30-2:00 p.m. A reception will follow the event.
Ahead of the Provost’s Spotlight, Dr. Time answered a few questions from the Center for Faculty Development.
You are a professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice. What drew you to this field as an area of interest.? What do you find fascinating about the study of criminology and criminal justice?
As a young girl, I had much admiration for the legal profession especially the robes and wigs won by judges. I saw judges as pillars of power, and I was determined to be one. While the majority of my degrees are law degrees, my interest in practicing law waned. I strongly believe that because I come from a family of educators, teaching was a natural order for me. I could have taught in a law school without a PhD, but getting a PhD was of prime importance to me. Since there are few schools in the United States that offer a Senior Jurist Doctorate (SJD) degree, the equivalent of a PhD, I decided to study criminal justice and criminology because there are aspects of these disciplines that correlate with law. Further, there is a need to teach some typical law courses in criminal justice and criminology programs, which is a role I fill here at ODU.
Understanding criminal behavior, which is what criminology is, is extraordinarily intriguing to me. Understanding the criminal phenomenon, reading the philosophy of punishment, and then realizing that some persons are incorrigible, while others with just a little positive or at times a negative stimulus turn their lives around, is extremely fascinating.
Tell us a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up, and how did that background in Africa influence the trajectory of your life’s work?
I grew up in Cameroon, with five siblings and our parents who were educators. While we were very well taken care of, we were made to understand early on in life that education was the key to success for most, and to never look down on those less privileged because we don’t know their stories. It was not uncommon to find classmates in elementary and secondary school dropout from school because they had to help their parents work on farms or become street vendors for sustenance, or get married at tender ages for bride price, or to shift the responsibilities of taking care of them from their parents to their husbands. Some children trekked miles to get to school without shoes and without food (a fate my dad endured since he was orphaned early in life). But my dad unlike many, was lucky to receive scholarships to study abroad. Dad never forgot where he came from and what he endured. He lived his life as an educator and a philanthropist. His example, his story, has been the cornerstone of how I live my life.
My life’s experiences enable me to look at the affairs of Africa in a subjective way, yet as I write about Africa’s problems, I remain objective in my findings. Many of my publications on Africa tap into issues of marginalization of women, poverty, issues with the educational system, governmental graft, among others. My charitable donations and services go to lift, in a minimal way, disenfranchised persons.
It’s fascinating how in some of your work you have combined an interest in English literature and history with your focus on criminology. Tell us a bit about your first book Shakespeare’s Criminals: Criminology, Fiction and Drama. Where did the idea come from and what did you discover in the pursuit of your research?
My early academic background is instrumental to this. Studying under the British system, we were required to master the English classics: works by Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, T.S. Elliot, and others. As well, knowledge of world history and geography was mandatory. This background, plus my father’s extra tutoring whetted my penchant for these subjects. So, when it came time to choose a dissertation topic and I was totally unsure of what to write about, it took me by surprise, pleasantly of course, when out of exasperation, I declared to the late Dr. W. Timothy Austin, that I will go home and read Shakespeare’s works all weekend, and he said, “Why don’t you write about Shakespeare?” It might have seemed like an offhanded question, but I took it seriously, and the following week, I presented to him a crude draft of a table of contents for a dissertation. That was the genesis of my book and other publications on fiction and criminology.
I discovered that early sources of publications on crime and criminals were from fictional writers, who at times had the urge to understand what motivated the characters to deviate from the norm. It became clear to me that the theories of crime and deviance that Shakespeare propounded hundreds of years ago are what we now allude to as criminological theories. Further, in Shakespeare’s plays, we can decipher various models of social control, like reprimand, incarceration, rehabilitation/therapy, restitution, death penalty, even though I must be clear here that a pardon and forfeiture of assets were upheld over the death penalty in “The Merchant of Venice.” In essence, Shakespeare foreshadowed those processes that society implements to understand and control criminal and deviant behavior.
Some of your work is gender based with research on forced marriages, prostitution, and domestic violence. What draws you to these topics and what have your learned in your research?
I like to address in my small way, contemporary and legal issues of the day, and put forth what I think are evidence-based solutions or at least practical ways to curb the issues. Yes, my second book and several articles that I have published tackle women’s issues especially those of African women.
I am African, and even though I grew up relatively better off than many, the issues of my folks were, and are inescapable. There was poverty, suffering and subjugation of girls and women when I lived in Africa, and these issues persist in the 21st century. I don’t have much money to hand out to poor people to alleviate their plight, but I hope that through my writings, my advocacy for a society where that much suffering is minimized will be realized.
The wealth of most Africans is in the hands of a few, so the majority can only rise to a decent livelihood through education and entrepreneurship. Archaic customary practices that stall women’s progress like bride price, early marriages, and levirate must be completely eviscerated. This can be done through messages of empowerment to women and fierce messages of cease and desist to custodians of power and customs, those that comprise government officials, local chiefs, parents, and men who still have a stronghold on these practices.
I have learned that change is slow, but with education and the tact of persuasion, change can be made. In my recent travels, I noticed the several gender advocacies groups in Kenya, and how in their revised constitution, Kenya advocates parity between genders. In Cameroon, I notice the proliferation of women’s lawyers championing women’s courses. There is palpable progress.
You are an award-winning teacher having won both the Stern Award in the College of Arts and Letters, and the University Professorship distinction which denotes excellence in teaching. You are also recognized as a “Diversity Champion,” and a Charles and Elisabeth Burgess recipient of the research and creativity award. Would you please share your philosophy of teaching?
I doubt that I do things much different from others. However, my orientation as I grew up was that students are not friends, they are persons seeking knowledge not friendship with professors. Hence my approach is to first want to figure out from students what they hope to gain from the course. My objective thereafter is to provide them an educational experience that sharpens their cognitive abilities and prepare them for future careers. To achieve this result, I employ rigorous class participation, present them with hypothetical and real-life scenarios that require critical thinking, and I give tests/exams, and assignments that challenge their mettle. I teach with much preparedness, excitement, and passion, and let my life experiences, travels, research morph into my teaching. What students will write about me at the end of the semester is never at my forefront, what they get out of the course and who they ultimately become is my focus. At the end, of each day as I drive back home, I ask myself did I do the best I could, and if I did, I stay content.
Please tell us about your recent Fulbright Project. Where did you go abroad and what did you study?
I won a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to Kenya for one year. While in Kenya, I also applied for the Africa Regional Travel Program organized by Fulbright and the Institute for International Education, and I was an awardee.
First, regarding my Fulbright U.S. Scholar award (teaching and research), I was in Kenya as a visiting professor at the University of Nairobi School of Law where I taught criminal law with a required emphasis on criminological theory and penology. I conducted ethnographic research on Alternative Dispute Resolution, precisely, mediation. To do this, I focused on three counties/states, Makueni, Machakos and Kitui.
According to Kenya’s 2019 Draft Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy, 90% of Kenyans prefer settling disputes out of court primarily through mediation. I had two main objectives. First, I wanted to understand what social and structural factors make it such that most Kenyans prefer out of court dispute resolution. Second, I wanted to sit in and observe and learn how mediation is conducted at the grassroots level. For my first inquiry, I interviewed 52 local chiefs, elders and religious leaders who mediate cases. Seven main factors were advanced as reasons why the majority of Kenyans favor mediation over court trials: cost efficiency, expediency, accessibility/convenience, transparency, congeniality, satisfaction, and harmony. I also interviewed 10 legal professionals who corroborated the findings from the mediators.
Regarding my second inquiry, I sat in on 31 local trials to observe how mediation is carried out. I learned that it is best if the litigants themselves come up with a solution. The mediator only acts as a referee allowing both sides to speak their minds and then figure out a resolution. The mediator then puts in place enforcement mechanisms. All types of cases can be mediated, although egregious crimes must be adjudicated in courts.
For the Africa Regional Travel award, I taught Alternatives to Incarceration at Cape Coast University School of Law, Cape Coast, Ghana. I was also invited to South Africa where I taught Criminological Review of Juvenile Delinquency, and International Criminal Law, at Nelson Mandela University School of Law.
You’ve been at ODU most of your career? What kept you here at ODU when you could have easily gone elsewhere?
Yes, I have spent my career at ODU. You are correct, I could have easily left ODU especially because I was courted by some schools. Three reasons account for why I stayed: First, my students over the years have been profoundly appreciative of my work. Many students stay in touch and frequently send me cards and messages of gratitude and well wishes. Second, faculty who have served on committees and have assessed my work when nominated for an award also made me feel appreciated. They have been objective in their deliberations and while I am sure most don’t know me personally, just as I don’t know who serves on the committees, the fact that they have found me worthy of being the awardee for the Robert Stern Award, Charles and Elisabeth Burgess Award, University Professor Award, and Diversity Champion Award means a lot to me. Third, Administrators including, Deans, Provosts, and Presidents, throughout my stay at ODU have had a positive impact on me. Even though I am introverted, they have always found a way to connect with me. I couldn’t ask for more. I am eternally grateful to all.