MLK Week Program: Letter Writing to Incarcerated Individuals

The Human Rights Lab and IOP’s Bridge Writing Workshop are collaborating to host a virtual letter writing program for folks currently incarcerated in Illinois.

What Just Happened in Nagorno-Karabakh: Déjà Vu or Geopolitical Trend?

Does the fighting that broke out on September 27 between Azerbaijan and Armenia represent the most recent violent episode in this disputed territory? Or is something different happening this time? Panelists will reflect on this most recent period of conflict, the status of the ceasefire established on November 10, and what a lasting resolution might look like.

Human Rights Book Salon: Jane Dailey - “White Fright: The Sexual Panic at the Heart of America’s Racist History”

Pozen Center Faculty Board member Jane Dailey will discuss her new book, “White Fright: The Sexual Panic at the Heart of America’s Racist History,” in conversation with Faculty Director Mark Bradley.

Human Rights Book Salon: Lydia Z. Dixon - “Delivering Health: Midwifery and Development in Mexico”

Join UChicago alumna and former Human Rights Intern Dr. Lydia Z. Dixon as she discusses her new book, “Delivering Health: Midwifery and Development in Mexico,” with Pozen Center Postdoctoral Instructor Amy Krauss.

Reading and Discussion: Reuben Jonathan Miller’s “Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration”

Assistant Professor Reuben Jonathan Miller reads and discusses ideas from his new book, “Halfway Home,” in conversation with Matthew Desmond.

Chicago Police Torture Archive Launch Event

Join the Lab and its partners as we honor the history and struggle of survivors and their families, and commemorate the launch of the Chicago Police Torture Archive.

Rising Up for Their Lives: Prison Organizing from Attica to Closing Rikers

This first event in a series hosted by the Mass Incarceration Working Group will feature a conversation with Brittany Friedman and Heather Ann Thompson, as they discuss what history can teach us about contemporary struggles for human rights within prisons and efforts to decarcerate.

“Carving Out Rights” Book Launch

Join editors and contributors for the launch of “Carving Out Rights from Inside the Prison Industrial Complex,” which features 30 brilliantly crafted prints made by artists at Stateville Prison.

“Building Together”: Prison Organizing in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond

This second event in a series hosted by the Mass Incarceration Working Group will feature a conversation with historian Dan Berger and activist Clifton “Skye” Williamson.

Mariame Kaba: Chicago Reparations and the Fight for an Abolitionist Future

Join the Lab as organizer and educator Mariame Kaba discusses reparations for Jon Burge torture survivors, the question of what transformative justice looks like, and her latest book, “We Do This ’Til We Free Us.”

Combating Anti-Asian Violence

A conversation among community organizers and academics around misogyny, racism, and anti-sex work stigma.

Art as Transformation: Music and Drama for Incarcerated Youth

Join us for an exploration of art as a means of transformation for persons who have experienced or are experiencing incarceration.

2021 Inaugural Practitioner Fellows Virtual Welcome Event + Talk

Join us as we formally welcome the inaugural Human Rights Lab/CSRPC Practitioner Fellows cohort!

Art and Imagination Inside Prisons

A virtual roundtable exploring art-making inside the prison industrial complex.

Freedom-Making in an Age of Mass Incarceration

A panel discussion about what freedom-making means within the carceral context of contemporary America.

What is Happening to Uyghurs/Muslims in Western China?

Join us for a panel discussion on the ongoing Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang.

Justice for Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright: Combating Police Violence & Building Youth Power

Panelists from the University of Chicago, the Chicago Freedom School, and other activist groups will speak about police violence in Chicago and throughout America, and will provide tangible ways that youth can use their collective power to enact change.

Khiara M. Bridges - Imagining an Ethnography of Pregnant Class-Privileged People of Color: Race, Class, Gender, and Prenatal Care

Berkeley Law Professor Khiara M. Bridges will deliver a talk titled “Imagining an Ethnography of Pregnant Class-Privileged People of Color: Race, Class, Gender, and Prenatal Care.”

We Who Believe in Freedom: The Long History of Struggle in Illinois Prisons & Beyond

Activist Nancy Kurshan and historian Toussaint Losier will discuss the enduring histories of struggle and coalition-building by those inside and outside Illinois prisons.

Reginald Dwayne Betts - Felon: A Play, A Discourse

Join the Lab and its partners for a performance by poet and legal scholar Reginald Dwayne Betts, followed by a conversation with Eve L. Ewing.

Juxtaposing the Public and Private: A Poetry Workshop with Reginald Dwayne Betts

Join us for a poetry workshop led by poet and legal scholar Reginald Dwayne Betts.

What is the Future for Hong Kong’s Rule of Law and Democracy?

Join us for this discussion on what the future holds for Hong Kong’s rule of law and democracy.

Making Gender Equality a Reality: Women’s Rights and Constitutional Reform in the Americas

This daylong virtual conference will bring together leaders on women’s equality in the Americas to discuss the impact of constitutional reform on women’s rights and insights for the future of gender equality. Simultaneous translation in English and Spanish will be provided.

1989: Tiananmen, the Chinese Democracy Movement, the Massacre, and Its Impact

Join us for this discussion on the events and impact of 1989: the Tiananmen Square protests, the Chinese Democracy Movement, and the Massacre.

Ongoing Nakba: Reflections on Palestine from Sheikh Jarrah to Gaza

Join the Pozen Center and our partners as we bring together panelists to discuss the latest developments and various mobilizations across Palestine.

Human Rights Book Salon: Yogita Goyal - “Runaway Genres”

Join us as Yogita Goyal (African American Studies and English, UCLA) discusses her latest book, “Runaway Genres: The Global Afterlives of Slavery.”

Prison Industrial Complex Abolition Symposium 2021

Join the Human Rights Lab and its partners for a two-part virtual symposium on prison-industrial complex (PIC) abolition theory and practice.

“We Are Each Other’s Business”: Freedom-Building and Justice Work in Chicago

Join us to learn about the work of the Lab Justice Interns on issues of incarceration and criminalization.

The Olympic Games and Human Rights in China

Join us for this discussion of the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and its implications for human rights struggles in China.

Human Rights Book Salon: Chiara Cordelli - “The Privatized State”

Pozen Center Faculty Board member Chiara Cordelli will discuss her new book, “The Privatized State,” in conversation with Professors Daniel Brudney and Elisabeth S. Clemens.

Human Rights Book Salon: Reuben Jonathan Miller - “Halfway Home”

Join the Human Rights Lab as Reuben Jonathan Miller discusses his new book, “Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration.”

“Changing the Things We Cannot Accept”: Black Women’s Vision and Leadership in Prison Organizing and Abolition Movements

Join the Mass Incarceration Working Group for the final teach-in of the academic year in our series “More Beautiful and More Terrible: Prison Organizing and Abolition in Unsettled Times,” featuring writer and organizer asha bandele.

Human Rights and Mass Incarceration BA Thesis Fellowship Presentations

Join us to celebrate the 2020-21 Human Rights BA Fellows as they present their thesis research findings and analyses.

Academic Opportunities Fair

Come say hi at this year’s Academic Opportunities Fair on the Main Quad!

Mass Incarceration is a Feminist Struggle: Voices of Formerly Incarcerated Women

1.2 million women are under correctional supervision in the United States, yet the narrative of mass incarceration often ignores the gendered aspects of punishment. Join a virtual, panel discussion centering the voices and experiences of incarcerated women and their work to build communities free of mass incarceration.

Abolition, Cultural Freedom, Liberation

Join 2020 Lannan Prize recipients Angela Y. Davis, Mike Davis, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore for a conversation hosted by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

Visions of Justice: Chicago

Join Illinois Humanities for a screening of the Chicago edition of the Visions of Justice video series followed by a panel discussion with local contributors. A Q&A with the panelists will be held after the discussion.

Storytelling, Climate Justice, and Self-Determined Indigenous Futures

What does it mean to live well with the Earth in the face of climate and ecological crisis? What does a self-determined climate future look like for Indigenous communities and peoples who have persisted despite centuries of colonization and environmental upheaval?

Human Rights Open House

Join us for our virtual open house to learn more about the Pozen Center and discuss pressing human rights topics with our faculty.

Exploring the Impact of Mass Incarceration: Humans of Life Row & the Work of Ethical Storytelling

How do storytelling projects with system impacted individuals and communities offer a unique lens into the social injustices caused by mass incarceration?

Derecka Purnell - "Becoming Abolitionists" - Aja Monet

Human rights lawyer, Derecka Purnell will be in conversation with aja monet about her revolutionary book, BECOMING ABOLITIONISTS. She will discuss how multi-racial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists tow

Sugar & Oil: Ecocritical Landscapes of Settler Colonialism, Slavery, and Their Afterlives in South Louisiana

A Special Lecture on Cancer Alley

Human Rights Book Salon: Hedi Viterbo - "Problematizing Law, Rights, and Childhood in Israel/Palestine"

Hedi Viterbo, Queen Mary University of London will speak about his new book, Problematizing Law, Rights, and Childhood in Israel/Palestine

Global South Workshop: Locality, Translation and the Anecdote in the Global South