Human Rights and Empire Graduate Student Conference: May 19-20, 2016

Thursday and Friday, May 19-20, 2016

Keynote address by Antony Anghie, University of Utah
“Colonialism and the Future of Human Rights”
Thursday, May 19; 4:30-6:30pm
Reception to follow 
Location: Regenstein Library, Room 122; 1100 E. 57th Street, Chicago

Paper Discussions
Friday, May 20; 9:00am-6:00pm
Location: Regenstein Library, Room 122; 1100 E. 57th Street, Chicago

Graduate Student Organizer 
Emma Stone Mackinnon
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Human Rights Workshop Co-Coordinator

About the Conference
Imperial powers have often been among the most vocal advocates of human rights. Are human rights ideals in tension with imperialism, or might such ideals in fact be implicated in imperial projects? Especially if such ideals have been complicit in empire, can invocations of human rights still be useful in opposing imperial and racial domination? How does the history of human rights relate to the history of imperialism and decolonization?

This conference will bring together graduate students working with a range of theoretical and historical approaches to address the politics of human rights in relation to race and empire. Potential topics include (but are not limited to) the relationship between liberalism and empire; questions of intervention and sovereignty; narratives of nationhood in human rights discourse; the place of international law in past and contemporary forms of imperialism; international imaginaries and forms of solidarity beyond the nation-state; and connections between human rights, sovereignty, and self-determination.

This conference is sponsored by the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, with support from the Franke Institute for the Humanities. 

Participant Registration

This conference is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged, but not required. Registrered participants will receive an email with a link to download the pre-circulated papers. Please note that these papers are works in progress and should not be circulated or cited. 

Graduate Student Presenters

Ryan Beaton, University of Victoria 
"The Recent Focus of Settler-State Courts on the Procedural Legitimation of State Sovereignty over Indigenous Lands"

Teresa Davis, Princeton University
"Liberal Imperialism, Rights and the End of Empire: Spain and the Cuba, 1866-1910"

Cindy Ewing, Yale University
"Where Do Rights Begin: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and the Emergence of Postcolonial Constitutionalism in Asia"

Yaqub Hilal, University of Chicago
"Locating Blame and Responsibility in a Liberal World"

Emma Mackinnon, University of Chicago
"Declaration as Disavowal: Race and Empire in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"

George Moore, University of Cambridge
"Imperialism, Independence, and Human Rights: The Indonesian Experience"

Conference Schedule

Thursday, May 19

4:30 – 6:30 | Welcome & Keynote with Antony Anghie, Reception to follow 

Friday, May 20

9:00 – 9:15am | Registration 

9:15 – 9:30am | Welcome 

9:30 – 10:30am  | Session 1
Teresa Davis, "Liberal Imperialism, Rights and the End of Empire: Spain and the Cuba, 1866-1910"
Discussants: Ben Laurence, Eric Hirsch 

10:30 – 10:45am | Break 

10:45-11:45am | Session 2
George Moore, "Imperialism, Independence, and Human Rights: The Indonesian Experience"
Discussants: Mark Bradley, Moodjalin Sudcharoen 

11:45-12noon | Break

12noon-1:00pm | Session 3
Emma Mackinnon, "Declaration as Disavowal: Race and Empire in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
Discussants: Sonali Thakkar, Rebecca Oh

1:00-2:00pm | Lunch (provided)

2:00-300pm | Session 4
Ryan Beaton, "The Recent Focus of Settler-State Courts on the Procedural Legitimation of State Sovereignty over Indigenous Lands"
Discussants: Adam Etinson, Vera Shikhelman

3:00-3:15pm | Break

3:15-4:15pm | Session 5
Cindy Ewing, "Where Do Rights Begin: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and the Emergence of Postcolonial Constitutionalism in Asia"
Discussants: Adom Getachew, Elizabeth Lhost

4:-15-4:30pm | Break

4:30-5:30 | Session 6
Yaqub Hilal, "Locating Blame and Responsibility in a Liberal World"
Discussants: Chiara Cordelli, Alejandra Azeuro

5:30-6pm | Concluding remarks