Current Human Rights Workshops: • Fall 2009

Spring 2009

Thursday, April 2nd
"Eating the Past, Feeding the Future: Value, Adjudicatio and the Politics of Integration among Congolese Migrants to the U.S."
Lisa Simeone, Anthropology, University of Chicago
Discussant: Anwen Tormey, Anthropology, University of Chicago

Thursday, April 16th
Mona Mehta, Political Science, University of Chicago
Discussant: Sean Dowdy, Anthropology, University of Chicago

Monday, May 4th
"Migration and Human Rights in the North American Corridor: Dilemmas, Contradictions, and Challenges"
Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion
(Co-sponsored with Migracion y Desarrollo journal and the Council on Latin American Studies)
*** Please note date, time, and location TBA ***

Thursday, May 7th, 4:15 - 5:30pm
"ICE Raids, Race and Immigration Policy"
Professor Bill O. Hing, Law, University of California-Davis
(Co-sponsored with the Workshop on Race and Racial Ideologies)
Discussant: Professor Susan Gzesh, Executive Director, Human Rights Program and Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago
*** Please note location TBA ***

Thursday, May 14th at 4pm
"Explaining the Ratification of Human Rights Treatises: NGO Professor Heather Smith, Political Science, Lewis and Clark University
Pressures and Unanticipated Effects"
(Co-sponsored with PIPES workshop)
Pick Hall, Room 506,
5828 S. University Ave.,
*** Please note location and time change ***

Thursday, May 28th
Professor Joy James, Political Science, Williams College
(Co-sponsored with the Crime and Punishment Workshop?)
*** Please note location TBA ***

Thursday, June 4th
"Out of Africa: Bodily Truths, Cultural Practices and Asylum Adjudication in Ireland"
Anwen Tormey, Anthropology, University of Chicago

Winter 2009

Thursday, January 8th
"Entangling Alliances: Naturalizing and Internationalizing the U.S. National Interest, 1944-50."
Professor Jim Sparrow, History
(Co-Sponsored with the Political History workshop)

Thursday, January 15th
"Rethinking the Prehistory of Human Rights"
Professor Samuel Moyn, History, Columbia University
Most of the arguments in the chapter are available in a brief article – "On the Genealogy of Morals," The Nation, April 16, 2007, available online here – which you can read instead.
Discussant: Professor Mark Bradley

Thursday, January 29th
"Can the Constable Speak? From Discipline to Depoliticization of Police in India"
Beatrice Jauregui, Anthropology, University of Chicago
Discussant: TBA

Thursday, February 12th
“Social Death and Political Life in Atlantic Slavery."
(Co-sponsored with the Latin American History workshop and Empire and Colonies Workshop)
Professor Vincent Brown, Harvard University
***John Hope Franklin Room, 2nd floor Social Science Research Building 1126 East 59th Street***

Thursday, February 26th
"A Good Union or Political Renegade? The Role of theCalifornia Correctional Peace Officer's Association in California Politics and the Passage of the Three Strikes Law."
John Acevedo, History, University of Chicago
Discussant: Jessica Neptune, History PhD Candidate

Tuesday, March 3rd, 4:30pm
"Chicago's Public Housing Redevelopment as a National Ethical Political Experiment"
Cassie Fennell, Anthropology, University of Chicago
Discussant: Liza Weinstein, Sociology PhD Candidate
Haskell Hall, Rm 101
co-sponsored with the Science, Technology, Society and the State workshop
*** Please note date and location change ***

Fall 2008

Thursday, October 23rd
Round table on Recent Human Rights Scholarship
Hosted by Professor Michael Geyer, History, University of Chicago

Thursday, November 13th
Lisa Simeone, Anthropology, University of Chicago
“Debrouillons-Nous: Congolese Migration and the Art of Making Politics in a New World”
Discussant TBA

Thursday, November 20th
Teach-in on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Thursday, December 4th
Standish Willis and Joey Mogul
"Human Rights at Home: The U.N. and the Chicago Police Torture cases"
OMSA Community Lounge
5710 S. Woodlawn Ave
(Co-sponsored with the Workshop on Reproduction of Race and Racial Ideologies)

Thursday, December 11th
Professor Jim Sparrow, History, University of Chicago
"Entangling Alliances: Naturalizing and Internationalizing the
U.S. National Interest, 1944-50"
Discussant TBA

Persons with a disability or who feel they may need assistance should contact 773-834-0957.

 

Spring 2008

Tuesday, April 1
"Flirting with Human Rights: Soviet Diplomacy, 1954-1958"
Jennifer Amos, History, University of Chicago
John Hope Franklin Room
(with the Russian Studies Workhop)

Thursday, April 17
"Guerrilla Pedagogies against 'Backyard Colonialism': Political Education, Frontier Justice, and the Prison Rebellion Years"
Professor Alan Gomez, History, Ithaca College
Pick Hall 105, 5828 South University Avenue

Thursday, April 24
"The Politics of Prestige: Factional Violence Among Palestinians in Lebanon"
Sarah Parkinson, Political Science, University of Chicago
Wilder House, 5811 South Kenwood Avenue
(with the Comparative Politics Workshop)

Thursday, May 1
"Neo-Liberal Democracy: Civic Participation and the Politics of Redistribution in Post-Apartheid South Africa"
Nick Smith, Political Science, University of Chicago
Pick Hall 105
(with the African Studies Workshop)

Thursday, May 22
"From Gandhi to gurus: The Paradox of Deliberative Democracy in Gujarat, India"
Mona Mehta, Political Science, University of Chicago
South Asia Lounge, Foster Hall 103-104
1130 East 59th Street
(with the Theory and Action in South Asian Studies Workshop)

Tuesday, June 3, 4:30
"A Roundtable Discussion on the Illinois Criminal Justice System"
Pick Hall 105

Wednesday, June 4: TBD

Persons with a disability or who feel they may need assistance should contact 773-834-0957.

Spring 2007

Thursday, April 5: "The Cut-Off: Water and Electricity Politics in the 'New' South Africa" - Kerry Chance, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology

Thursday, April 12:  “Resource Rebellion: Social Movements, Subsistence, and the Bolivian Water Wars” - Erica Simmons, PhD Student, Department of Political Science 

Thursday, April 19:  Shayna Silverstein, PhD Candidate, Department of Music

Thursday, April 26: "The Not So Strange Career of Clifford Clinton: Defeated Visions of Service Work in Postwar Los Angeles" - Thomas J. Adams, Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago (Jointly with the Social History Workshop)

Thursday, May 3: "The Fifteen Woman Lawsuit Opposing the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq" - Michiko Nakajima, J.D. (Jointly with the Art and Politics of East Asia Workshop)

Thursday, May 17: Special Guest, David Theo Goldberg, Director, University of California Humanities Research Institute

Workshops are at 4:30 in Pick 105 unless otherwise announced. For copies of the papers, contact Lisa Simeone (lsimeone@uchicago.edu) or call the Human Rights Program at 834-0957.  Persons with a disability or who feel they may need assistance should also contact 834-0957.

 

Winter 2007 Workshops - Human Rights and History

Thursday, January 11: Thematic and Planning Discussion, The Chicago History Human Rights Group

Thursday, January 25: "Human Rights and the Problem of Formal Equality: Labor Exploitation in the U.S. Displaced Persons Program, 1946-1952," Stephen Porter, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago

Thursday, February 8: “’Dangerous Classes, Races and Sex’: Modeling Equality and Protecting the French Motherland during the Second Half of the 19th Century” Lisa Simeone, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

Thursday, February 22: "Amnesty and Constitutional Guarantees Against State Abuse in Brazil, 1895-1922," Ann Schneider, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago

Thursday, March 1: “Piloting the Car of Human Freedom: Abolitionism, Woman Suffrage, and the Problem of Radical Reform, 1860-1870,” A J Aiseirithe, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago

Thursday, March 8: “’The Law of Nations is Common to All Mankind': ius naturale et ius gentium in the works of Ulrich Zasius,” Susan Karr, PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago

 

Autumn 2006 Workshops:
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT (Cosponsored with the Workshop on the Global Environment)

Thursday, October 12: “Linkages Between Environmental Protection and Human Rights,” Dinah Shelton, Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School

[CANCELLED] Wednesday, November 1: “Written in the Birch Bark: The Naturalizing Discourse of Simon Pokagon and the Indian Progressives,” Doctoral Candidate, Department of English, University of Chicago

Thursday, November 9: “The Dangerous Allure of Big Dams: an Historical Perspective on Dam-Building in India,” Kathleen Morrison, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago; Director, Center for International Studies

Thursday, November 16:"Nature, Natives and Networks: Institutionalizing Indigenous Rights and the Environment in Transnational Politics," Sonja Pieck, Lecturer and Research Associate, Environmental Studies Program

Thursday, November 30: “Conservation Concessions, National Parks, Biospheres, and Other Problematic Concepts: Territorial Rights in the Context of Worldwide Environmental Conservation Efforts,” Alaka Wali, Curator and Director, Center for Cultural Understanding and Change (CCUC), Field Museum; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Chicago

Spring 2006

Thursday, March 30: “Our Struggle is Thought on the Ground Running,” Richard Pithouse, Research Fellow, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa (Jointly with African Studies Workshop)

Friday, March 31: “From the Front Lines of the Human Rights Battle in Japan: Constitution, Flag and Anthem in the Schools,” Teruhisa Horio, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo (Jointly with East Asia: Trans-Regional Histories Workshop, Art and Politics of East Asia workshop, and the Japan Committee)

Thursday, April 27: Film Screening of “Madame Pink” and Discussion of Violence Against Women in Ghana, Andrea Wenzel, WBEZ

Thursday, May 4: “You Cannot Help But Be Outraged: Photography and Responsibility in the Abu Ghraib Scandal,” Huffa Frobes-Cross, PhD Student, Department of Philosophy, DePaul University

Thursday, May 11: “The Context of Antisemitism and Islamophobia in France,” Paul Silverstein, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Reed College(Jointly with Anthropology of Europe Workshop)  

Thursday, May 18: “The Soviet Conception of Human Rights,” Jennifer Amos, Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago  

Thursday, May 25: Film Screening and Discussion on Depleted Uranium in collaboration with EALC 27605, “Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Beyond,” Norma Field, Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

Winter 2006

Thursday, January 19: “Transcending the Individualist Paradigm in Sexual Orientation Antidiscrimination Law,” Holning Lau, Public Policy Fellow, Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law, UCLA School of Law

Thursday, February 16: “Everyone with Eyes Can See the Problem: Moral Citizens and the Space of Irish Nationhood,” Anwen Tormey, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

Thursday, February 23: “Bernard Williams’s Political Philosophy,” Michael Green, Department of Philosophy, University of Chicago

Thursday, March 2: “Anti-Communism in the Streets: Refugee Politics in Cold-War Germany, 1945-1955,” Anna Holian, Doctoral Candidate, Department of History

Autumn 2005

Friday, October 14: “Death, Destiny, and Dissonance in the Revolutionary Constitution: The Death Penalty in Mexico, 1917-1920,” Everard Kidder Meade, Assistant Professor of History, University of California at San Diego

Thursday, October 20: “Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: War Crimes and Terror in Chechnya,” Emma Gilligan, Post-Doctoral Fellow in History, University of Chicago

 Thursday, November 3: “Between Globalizing Present and Cosmopolitan Future? Toward a Transnational Politics of Popular Sovereignty,” Adam Lupel, Managing Editor, Constellations Journal and Graduate Faculty, Department of Political Science, New School University

Thursday, November 17: “Are Migrant Workers’ Rights Human Rights? Hoffman Plastics v NLRB and the Sovereign Power to Discriminate Under International Law,” Lisa Simeone, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

Spring 2005

April 12: Patricia Weiss Fagen, Senior Associate, Institute for Study of International Migration, Georgetown University - "The Challenge of Finding Solutions for a Growing population of Forced Migrants"
Discussants: Susan Gzesh, Director, Human Rights Program & Lecturer, Law School; University of Chicago
Andreas E. Feldmann, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Human Rights Program, University of Chicago

April 26: John D. Kelly, Professor in Anthropology and Master of the Collegiate Division of the Social Sciences, University of Chicago - "Baseball Black and White: Jackie Robinson, Critical Events, Race and Nation"
Discussant: Ben Eastman, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, University of Chicago

May 10: Sara Hussein, MAPSS Student, University of Chicago - "An American State of Emergency? Post-9/11 'Anti- terrorist' Measures and International Human Rights Law"
Discussant: Peter G. Wilson, Student in Law School, University of Chicago

May 12: Ann Schneider, PhD Candidate in History, University of Chicago - "Political Amnesty in Brazil, 1889-1979"
Discussant: Jessica Graham, PhD Candidate in History, University of Chicago

May 31: Undergraduate Session

• Lawrence "Rush" Atkinson, AB Candidate in Law, Letters & Society and Political Science, University of Chicago - "Cosmopolitan Courts: American Transjudicialism and Current Objections"
• Indivar Dutta-Gupta, AB Candidate in Law, Letters & Society and Political Science, University of Chicago - "Constitutional Aspirations: The Constitutionalization of Government Commitments to Public Education in the United States"
• Maureen Tracey-Mooney, AB Candidate in History, University of Chicago - "Carving Out Economic and Social Rights in the US: The Transformation of Hill-Burton and the Right to Health Care"

Winter 2005

January 19th: Marvin Makinen, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - "Development of Forensic Database Methods in Search of 'the Disappeared': The Case of Raoul Wallenberg"

February 1: Jorge Contesse, Assistant Professor, Diego Portales Law School; LLM, Yale University - "The Rebel Democracy: a look into the relationship between the Mapuche people and the Chilean State"
Discussants: Victor Muñiz-Fraticelli, Graduate Student in Political Science, University of Chicago; Matthew Kelly, Graduate Student in Anthropology, University of Chicago

February 15: Galya Ruffer, JD, PhD, DePaul University - "Cosmopolitics of Asylum Seekers in the EU"
Discussant: Lisa Simeone, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

March 1: Alexandra Forter - "Gangs, Violent Crime and Citizen Security: A Comparative Analysis of the Application of Human Rights in Central American Law and Policy"
Discussant: Karolina Arias, MPP Student, University of Chicago

Autumn 2004

October 12: Shayna Plaut, Activist and Instructor, Columbia College - “Information Impasse: Mapping Communication Patterns between Romani Media and Romani NGOs in the Republic of Macedonia”
Discussant: George Velev, Graduate of CIR, University of Chicago

October 19: Neve Gordon, Assistant Professor in Politics and Government, Ben Gurion University - “Hamas and the Destruction of Risk Society: The Case of the Palestinian Health System”
Discussant: Orit Bashkin, Assistant Professor in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, University of Chicago

November 9: Luc Reydams, Faculty of Political Science, University of Notre Dame - “Universal Jurisdiction: Back to Square Zero?”

November 23: Murat Arsel, Research Associate and Lecturer in Environmental Studies, University of Chicago - “Environment, Development and Human Rights in Turkey.”
Discussant: Jeremy Francis Walton, Ph.D. student in Anthropology

November 30: Rocío Magaña, Ph.D Candidate in Anthropology, University of Chicago - "Bodies, Borders, Protocols: Unauthorized migration, the management of life, and human rights discourse at the Arizona-Sonora Border"
Discussants: Julia Young and Andreas Feldmann

Spring 2004

May 25: Matthew Kelly, Ph.D. student, Anthropology, University of Chicago "Naturalizing Seminole 'Racism' and the Multicultural Self"
Discussant: William Novak, Associate Professor, History, University of Chicago

May 18: Dingding Chen, Ph.D. candidate, Political Science, University of Chicago "Transformation from Within: Explaining China’s Changing Discourse on Human Rights, 1978-present"
Discussant: De-Yuan Kao, Ph.D. student, Political Science, University of Chicago

May 4: Jennifer Rubenstein, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago “Accountability of International Private Humanitarian Organizations”
Discussant: Andreas Feldmann, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Human Rights Program, University of Chicago

April 20: Joshua Preiss, Ph.D. Student in Philosophy, "Pluralism, Relativism, and Cultural Rights"
Discussant: Michael Stephens, Ph.D. Student in Philosophy

April 13: Emmanuel Saadia, Ph.D Candidate, Department of History - "The French Revolution and Human Rights in Historiographical Perspective"
Discussant: Dana Simmons, Ph.D Candidate, Department of History

Winter 2004

January 13: Alexsander Popov, PhD candidate in Economics, U of C - "Labor Discrimination in the Czech Republic"
Discussant: Randall Schmidt, Professor in the Law School

January 27: Maritza Poros, Assistant Prof. in Sociology, IIT - "Migration and Human Rights Concerns in Southern Europe"
Discussant: Evalyn Tennant

February 24: Janet Afary, Associate Prof. of History and Women's Studies, Dept. of History, Purdue University - "The Human Rights of Middle Eastern & Muslim Women"
Discussant: Holly Shissler, Assistant Professor, NELC

March 9: Jacob Levy, Assistant Professor, Political Science - "Language Rights, Literacy, and the Modern State"
Discussant: Michael Green, Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Autumn 2003

November 4th: Andreas Feldmann, Post-Doctoral Fellow - "New Formulas, Old Sins: Human Rights Abuses Against Migrant Workers, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees in the Americas"
Discussants: Susan Gzesh and Jorge Durand

November 25: Xóchitl Bada, (Ph.D. student, Department of Sociology and Research Assistant, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame - "The Movement to Enfranchise Mexican Expatriates: A Case Study of Market Membership Without Absentee Suffrage"
Discussant: Kesha Fikes, Asst. Prof., Anthropology

December 2: Sheldon Lyke, PhD student, Department of Sociology: "Forgetting Justice Powell-a critical review of the Supreme Court's sodomy decision in Lawrence v. Texas"
Discussant: Carl Nash, PhD student, Department of History, University of Chicago

Autumn 2002:

October 2: Neve Gordon, Professor, Ben Gurion University
"Rationalizing Extra-Judicial Executions: The Israeli Press and the Legitimization of Abuse"
Discussant: Jennifer Mitzen, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for International Relations.

October 16: Mieke Holkeboer, Doctoral Candidate in Theology at the Divinity School
"Humanizing Human Rights in South Africa: What Happens After the Truth and Reconciliation Committee?"

November 7: Abel Barrera, Tlachinollan (Mexican NGO concerned with indigenous rights issues) title to be determined

November 20: Edith Garneau, Doctoral Candidate in Political Science
"Gender presence within the work of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Affairs"

November 26: Judith Yaphe, Institute for National Strategic Studies
"Iraq, Regime Change, and Human Rights: Will there be a Republic of Fear after Saddam?"

Spring 2002

April 9: Andrea Muehlebach (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago) "What "self" in "self-determination"? Notes from the frontiers of transnational indigenous activism"

April 11: Patricia Gossman (Women's Studies Department, Georgetown University) "Prospects for Peace:Can Afghanistan Survive its Past?" (Co-sponsored by South Asia Lang & Area Civilization)

April 29: David Cole (Professor, Georgetown University Law Center) "Enemy Aliens:Trading Immigrants' Liberties for Our Security?"

May 8: Victor Boutros (JD candidate, Law School) "Can the U.S. Do Anything About Sex Trafficking in Asia?"

May 21: Jennifer Jailey Philpot (Ph.D. Candidate, Divinity School) "Peace Under Fire: Evangelical Resistance to the Peace Process in Post-War Guatemala"

Winter 2002

January 29: Evalyn Tennant (Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science) "Locating the 'Grassroots' in Transnational Activism"

February 12: Ev Meade (Ph.D Candidate, Department of History) "Death Penalty in Mexico"

February 19: Shane Green (Ph.D Candidate, Department of Anthropology) "Indigenous Knowledge as Potential Intellectual Property in Peru"

Autumn 2001

September 28: Vicki Grieves (Ph.D candidate, Department of Anthropology, Univeristy of Newcastle, Australia) "Indigenous Rights in Australia"

October 22: Miguel Angel de los Santos (Human Rights Attorney from Chiapas, Mexico) "Chiapas and Human Rights in Mexico"

November 2: Sergio Aguayo (Professor at El Colegio de Mexico and the New School) "The Practice of Human Rights in Mexico: Have Conditions Improved under Vicente Fox?"

November 7: Moethee Zun (Autumn 2001 Activist Fellow of the Human Rights Program/ founder of the Democratic Party for a New Society in Burma) "Burma Under Military Rule: Human Rights and the Possibility of Change"

November 14: Tara Holeman (Hong Kong Director, Business for Social Responsibility BSR) "Corporate Social Responsibility and Labor Rights: What Constitutes a 'Victory' over a Sweatshop?"