Human Freedom Index
A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom
By Ian Vásquez and Tanja Porčnik
Cato Institute 2015
The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.
The report is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT...........
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, July 24, 2015
A Bangladeshi Town in Human Trafficking’s Grip
Fishermen, shopkeepers and policemen were all drawn in, as participants or observers, to a multimillion-dollar people smuggling business.
Written by ELLEN BARRY
The New York Times - JULY 23, 2015
SHAH PORIR DWIP, Bangladesh — From his shop overlooking a pier on this island near the border with Myanmar, Mohammad Hossain watched the human smuggling business swell. Over the years, the trickle gradually grew into an unending stream. The late-night flashes of light on the water, signaling that the coast was clear to launch boats, multiplied until they looked like summer lightning. That the boats were not carrying fish was an open secret here: One day, when a trawler sank on its way out, the water was littered with human bodies. The people of Shah Porir Dwip — fishermen, shopkeepers, police officers and shadowy bosses — were all drawn in, as participants or concerned observers, to a multimillion-dollar people smuggling business that sent roots deep into this impoverished corner of Bangladesh. Continue reading the main story Related Coverage Jubair, 13, was left behind when his mother and siblings fled Myanmar for Malaysia. “I didn’t know about it,” he said. “She could not find me. She could not tell me.” A Migrant Mother’s Anguished ChoiceJULY 5, 2015 Oma Salema, 12, holding her undernourished brother, Ayub Khan, 1, in Sittwe Camp. Myanmar to Bar Rohingya From Fleeing, but Won’t Address Their PlightJUNE 12, 2015 Malaysia offers at least some modicum of opportunity for Rohingya migrants. Rohingya gathered at an apartment block in Kuala Lumpur that is home to several families. Even in Safety of Malaysia, Rohingya Migrants Face Bleak ProspectsJUNE 3, 2015 Rohingya migrants with airdropped food. A boat carrying them and scores of others, including young children, was found floating in Thai waters; passengers said several people had died. Rohingya Migrants From Myanmar, Shunned by Malaysia, Are Spotted Adrift in Andaman SeaMAY 14, 2015 The outside world came to know of the smuggling this spring, through a series of awful revelations. Shallow graves were discovered in makeshift camps in Thailand, near the Malaysian border, where smugglers abused and starved their captives, demanding as much as $3,000 from their families for their release. Boats were abandoned in the middle of the ocean, packed with people on the edge of starvation.
READ MORE....
Written by ELLEN BARRY
The New York Times - JULY 23, 2015
SHAH PORIR DWIP, Bangladesh — From his shop overlooking a pier on this island near the border with Myanmar, Mohammad Hossain watched the human smuggling business swell. Over the years, the trickle gradually grew into an unending stream. The late-night flashes of light on the water, signaling that the coast was clear to launch boats, multiplied until they looked like summer lightning. That the boats were not carrying fish was an open secret here: One day, when a trawler sank on its way out, the water was littered with human bodies. The people of Shah Porir Dwip — fishermen, shopkeepers, police officers and shadowy bosses — were all drawn in, as participants or concerned observers, to a multimillion-dollar people smuggling business that sent roots deep into this impoverished corner of Bangladesh. Continue reading the main story Related Coverage Jubair, 13, was left behind when his mother and siblings fled Myanmar for Malaysia. “I didn’t know about it,” he said. “She could not find me. She could not tell me.” A Migrant Mother’s Anguished ChoiceJULY 5, 2015 Oma Salema, 12, holding her undernourished brother, Ayub Khan, 1, in Sittwe Camp. Myanmar to Bar Rohingya From Fleeing, but Won’t Address Their PlightJUNE 12, 2015 Malaysia offers at least some modicum of opportunity for Rohingya migrants. Rohingya gathered at an apartment block in Kuala Lumpur that is home to several families. Even in Safety of Malaysia, Rohingya Migrants Face Bleak ProspectsJUNE 3, 2015 Rohingya migrants with airdropped food. A boat carrying them and scores of others, including young children, was found floating in Thai waters; passengers said several people had died. Rohingya Migrants From Myanmar, Shunned by Malaysia, Are Spotted Adrift in Andaman SeaMAY 14, 2015 The outside world came to know of the smuggling this spring, through a series of awful revelations. Shallow graves were discovered in makeshift camps in Thailand, near the Malaysian border, where smugglers abused and starved their captives, demanding as much as $3,000 from their families for their release. Boats were abandoned in the middle of the ocean, packed with people on the edge of starvation.
READ MORE....
Monday, June 1, 2015
A New Book: Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space
by Keller Easterling
VERSO - 2014
Extrastatecraft controls everyday life in the city: it’s the key to power – and resistance – in the twenty-first century.
Infrastructure is not only the underground pipes and cables controlling our cities. It also determines the hidden rules that structure the spaces all around us – free trade zones, smart cities, suburbs, and shopping malls. Extrastatecraft charts the emergent new powers controlling this space and shows how they extend beyond the reach of government.
Keller Easterling explores areas of infrastructure with the greatest impact on our world – examining everything from standards for the thinness of credit cards to the urbanism of mobile telephony, the world’s largest shared platform, to the “free zone,” the most virulent new world city paradigm. In conclusion, she proposes some unexpected techniques for resisting power in the modern world.
Extrastatecraft will change the way we think about urban spaces – and how we live in them.
READ MORE....
VERSO - 2014
Infrastructure is not only the underground pipes and cables controlling our cities. It also determines the hidden rules that structure the spaces all around us – free trade zones, smart cities, suburbs, and shopping malls. Extrastatecraft charts the emergent new powers controlling this space and shows how they extend beyond the reach of government.
Keller Easterling explores areas of infrastructure with the greatest impact on our world – examining everything from standards for the thinness of credit cards to the urbanism of mobile telephony, the world’s largest shared platform, to the “free zone,” the most virulent new world city paradigm. In conclusion, she proposes some unexpected techniques for resisting power in the modern world.
Extrastatecraft will change the way we think about urban spaces – and how we live in them.
READ MORE....
Thursday, May 28, 2015
A New Issue: SOCIETIES WITHOUT BORDERS: Current Issue: Volume 10, Issue 1 (2015)
SOCIETIES WITHOUT BORDERS
Current Issue: Volume 10, Issue 1 (2015)
http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/
Articles
A New Societies Without BordersBrian K. Gran
Stories from the Margins: Refugees with Disabilities Rebuilding LivesBrent C. Elder
Mobilization, Strategy, and Global Apparel Production Networks: Systemic Advantages for Student Antisweatshop ActivismDale W. Wimberley, Meredith A. Katz, and John Paul Mason
Book ReviewsReview of Obama Power by Jeffrey C. Alexander and Bernadette N. Jaworsky (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014).Kubilay Y. Arin
Review of Global Coloniality and Power in GuatemalaAndrew Crookston
Review of Torture: A Sociology of Violence and Human RightsJared Del Rosso
Review of Edges of Global Justice: The World Social Forum and its OthersManisha Desai
Review of The Anti-Slavery Project: From Slave Trade to Human TraffickingAnnie Fukushima
Review of Fair Trade from the Ground Up: New Markets for Social JusticeSilvia Giagnoni
Review of Jennifer Curtis, Human Rights as War by Other Means (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2014)Kubilay Y. Arin Mr
Film Reviews
Review of "Young and Gay: Jamaica’s Gully Queens” Produced and Directed by Christo Geoghegan of VICE NewsShaneda Destine
Review of "My Name is Khan"Farrukh Hakeem
Review of “Rape in the Fields. The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America”Suchitra Samanta
Current Issue: Volume 10, Issue 1 (2015)
http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/
Articles
A New Societies Without BordersBrian K. Gran
Stories from the Margins: Refugees with Disabilities Rebuilding LivesBrent C. Elder
Mobilization, Strategy, and Global Apparel Production Networks: Systemic Advantages for Student Antisweatshop ActivismDale W. Wimberley, Meredith A. Katz, and John Paul Mason
Book ReviewsReview of Obama Power by Jeffrey C. Alexander and Bernadette N. Jaworsky (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014).Kubilay Y. Arin
Review of Global Coloniality and Power in GuatemalaAndrew Crookston
Review of Torture: A Sociology of Violence and Human RightsJared Del Rosso
Review of Edges of Global Justice: The World Social Forum and its OthersManisha Desai
Review of The Anti-Slavery Project: From Slave Trade to Human TraffickingAnnie Fukushima
Review of Fair Trade from the Ground Up: New Markets for Social JusticeSilvia Giagnoni
Review of Jennifer Curtis, Human Rights as War by Other Means (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2014)Kubilay Y. Arin Mr
Film Reviews
Review of "Young and Gay: Jamaica’s Gully Queens” Produced and Directed by Christo Geoghegan of VICE NewsShaneda Destine
Review of "My Name is Khan"Farrukh Hakeem
Review of “Rape in the Fields. The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America”Suchitra Samanta
The Year of International Human Rights - Webster University October 7-8th 2015
Dear friends,
I am helping to plan our annual human rights conference which will take place October 7-8th 2015 at Webster University. This is our 6th annual conference and sociologist Judith Blau will be our keynote speaker! I am writing to you for help with finding an academic or activist (or both) who works on hunger, food and poverty. This theme of the conference is the Millennium Development Goals so one of our sessions will need to focus on this goal. We pay for travel, hotel, incidentals and a modest honorarium. If you think this is something you would be interested in OR if you can put me in contact with an organization or another academic working on this issue please let me know. Here is the website for our conference.
http://www.webster.edu/arts-and-sciences/affiliates-events/yihr.html
Please respond to me privately at andreamiller31 (at) webster.edu Please share widely!
Andrea Miller, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Fellow, Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies
Webster University
470 E. Lockwood Ave
St. Louis, MO 63119
314-246-8698
I am helping to plan our annual human rights conference which will take place October 7-8th 2015 at Webster University. This is our 6th annual conference and sociologist Judith Blau will be our keynote speaker! I am writing to you for help with finding an academic or activist (or both) who works on hunger, food and poverty. This theme of the conference is the Millennium Development Goals so one of our sessions will need to focus on this goal. We pay for travel, hotel, incidentals and a modest honorarium. If you think this is something you would be interested in OR if you can put me in contact with an organization or another academic working on this issue please let me know. Here is the website for our conference.
http://www.webster.edu/arts-and-sciences/affiliates-events/yihr.html
Please respond to me privately at andreamiller31 (at) webster.edu Please share widely!
Andrea Miller, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Fellow, Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies
Webster University
470 E. Lockwood Ave
St. Louis, MO 63119
314-246-8698
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Explain to me: Why is the government closing remote Aboriginal communities?
By Rebecca Mitchell
Mamamia - 24 March 2015
If you haven’t been part of them, you’ve most likely at least heard of the recent protests against the closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. You may have seen #SOSBlakAustralia trending on Facebook last week. Or maybe you follow Hugh Jackman on Instagram. Maybe you heard Tony Abbott say the government couldn’t subsidise “lifestyle choices” and the collective horrified gasp that followed. But chances are you’re asking — what the hell is going on?
Today, we’re here to explain.
Last year, the Federal government announced it would stop funding essential services in remote Australian communities — essentially transferring this responsibility to the states. Last week, WA Premier Colin Barnett said his state would have to “close” between 100 to 150 Indigenous communities, as a result.
READ MORE....
Mamamia - 24 March 2015
Today, we’re here to explain.
Last year, the Federal government announced it would stop funding essential services in remote Australian communities — essentially transferring this responsibility to the states. Last week, WA Premier Colin Barnett said his state would have to “close” between 100 to 150 Indigenous communities, as a result.
READ MORE....
Monday, May 11, 2015
What is the Human Rights Act and why does Michael Gove want to scrap it?
JON STONE
THE INDEPENDENT - Monday 11 May 2015
The Conservatives' manifesto says the party wants to scrap the Human Rights Act. David Cameron has appointed Michael Gove, the former education secretary, to be Justice Secretary; this means he'll be responsible for the policy. The Human Rights Act is a piece of law, introduced in 1998, that guarantees human rights in Britain. It was introduced as one of the first major reforms of the last Labour government. In practice, the Act has two main effects. Firstly, it incorporates the rights of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic British law. What this means is that if someone has a complaint under human rights law they do not have to go to European courts but can get justice from British courts. Secondly, it requires all public bodies – not just the central government, but institutions like the police, NHS, and local councils – to abide by these human rights.
READ MORE....
THE INDEPENDENT - Monday 11 May 2015
The Conservatives' manifesto says the party wants to scrap the Human Rights Act. David Cameron has appointed Michael Gove, the former education secretary, to be Justice Secretary; this means he'll be responsible for the policy. The Human Rights Act is a piece of law, introduced in 1998, that guarantees human rights in Britain. It was introduced as one of the first major reforms of the last Labour government. In practice, the Act has two main effects. Firstly, it incorporates the rights of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic British law. What this means is that if someone has a complaint under human rights law they do not have to go to European courts but can get justice from British courts. Secondly, it requires all public bodies – not just the central government, but institutions like the police, NHS, and local councils – to abide by these human rights.
READ MORE....
New Boston University professor's tweets spark racial furor
By: Jack Encarnacao, Antonio Planas
BOSTON HERALD - Monday, May 11, 2015
A Boston University spokesman said the administration is “offended” by an incoming African American Studies professor’s disparaging tweets about white people, which have gone viral and now have students at odds.
Saida Grundy, who starts in July as an assistant professor of sociology and African American Studies, has sent out several racially charged tweets in recent months, including calling “white college males” a “problem population,” declaring “white masculinity is THE problem for America’s colleges.” Other tweets stated “Deal with your white (expletive), white people. slavery is a *YALL* thing,” and “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. And every year I find it nearly impossible.”
The tweets were compiled by the web site SoCawlege.com last week before Grundy — described on BU’s website as a “feminist sociologist of race & ethnicity” — made her account private. They were also published by Fox News.
READ MORE....
BOSTON HERALD - Monday, May 11, 2015
A Boston University spokesman said the administration is “offended” by an incoming African American Studies professor’s disparaging tweets about white people, which have gone viral and now have students at odds.
Saida Grundy, who starts in July as an assistant professor of sociology and African American Studies, has sent out several racially charged tweets in recent months, including calling “white college males” a “problem population,” declaring “white masculinity is THE problem for America’s colleges.” Other tweets stated “Deal with your white (expletive), white people. slavery is a *YALL* thing,” and “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. And every year I find it nearly impossible.”
The tweets were compiled by the web site SoCawlege.com last week before Grundy — described on BU’s website as a “feminist sociologist of race & ethnicity” — made her account private. They were also published by Fox News.
READ MORE....
Sunday, May 10, 2015
White America's Greatest Delusion: "They Do Not Know It and They Do Not Want to Know It”
By Tim Wise
AlterNet - May 6, 2015
Though perhaps overused, there are few statements that so thoroughly burrow to the heart of the nation's racial condition as the following, written fifty-three years ago by James Baldwin:
...this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it...but it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime
Indeed, and in the wake of the Baltimore uprising that began last week, they are words worth remembering.
It is bad enough that much of white America sees fit to lecture black people about the proper response to police brutality, economic devastation and perpetual marginality, having ourselves rarely been the targets of any of these. It is bad enough that we deign to instruct black people whose lives we have not lived, whose terrors we have not faced, and whose gauntlets we have not run, about violence; this, even as we enjoy the national bounty over which we currently claim possession solely as a result of violence. I beg to remind you, George Washington was not a practitioner of passive resistance. Neither the early colonists nor the nation's founders fit within the Gandhian tradition. There were no sit-ins at King George's palace, no horseback freedom rides to effect change. There were just guns, lots and lots of guns.
We are here because of blood, and mostly that of others; here because of our insatiable and rapacious desire to take by force the land and labor of those others. We are the last people on Earth with a right to ruminate upon the superior morality of peaceful protest. We have never believed in it and rarely practiced it. Rather, we have always taken what we desire, and when denied it we have turned to means utterly genocidal to make it so.
READ MORE......
AlterNet - May 6, 2015
Though perhaps overused, there are few statements that so thoroughly burrow to the heart of the nation's racial condition as the following, written fifty-three years ago by James Baldwin:
...this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it...but it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime
Indeed, and in the wake of the Baltimore uprising that began last week, they are words worth remembering.
It is bad enough that much of white America sees fit to lecture black people about the proper response to police brutality, economic devastation and perpetual marginality, having ourselves rarely been the targets of any of these. It is bad enough that we deign to instruct black people whose lives we have not lived, whose terrors we have not faced, and whose gauntlets we have not run, about violence; this, even as we enjoy the national bounty over which we currently claim possession solely as a result of violence. I beg to remind you, George Washington was not a practitioner of passive resistance. Neither the early colonists nor the nation's founders fit within the Gandhian tradition. There were no sit-ins at King George's palace, no horseback freedom rides to effect change. There were just guns, lots and lots of guns.
We are here because of blood, and mostly that of others; here because of our insatiable and rapacious desire to take by force the land and labor of those others. We are the last people on Earth with a right to ruminate upon the superior morality of peaceful protest. We have never believed in it and rarely practiced it. Rather, we have always taken what we desire, and when denied it we have turned to means utterly genocidal to make it so.
READ MORE......
Monday, May 4, 2015
CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWERS - Societies Without Borders
CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWERS - Societies Without Borders
Societies Without Borders
http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/
Editor, Brian K. Gran (Case Western Reserve University)
Societies Without Borders(http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/ ), an online journal published by Sociologists Without Borders, is seeking book reviewers in the fields of sociology, international studies, political science, economics and cultural studies. In keeping with its mission to make the scholarly analysis of economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights accessible to as wide an audience as possible, Societies Without Borders is a peer-reviewed journal.
If you are interested in reviewing books for our Journal, please send your short CV to tugrulkeskin (at) pdx.edu. We have a list of books to review that you will find below; please contact me in the event that you are interested in any of the titles. Alternatively, you may also propose titles that you are willing to review.
Submissions deadlines for the coming year are June 1 and September 1, 2015.
I will mail (NOT OUTSIDE OF THE US) any of the following books to you if you express interest:
Binational Human Rights The U.S.-Mexico Experience William Paul Simmons and Carol Mueller, Editors University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Amnesties, Accountability, and Human Rights Renée Jeffery University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Moral Systems and the Evolution of Human Rights. Bruce K. Friesen. Springer, 2014
Human Rights and Disability Advocacy Edited by Maya Sabatello ad Marianne Schulze University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Immigration Judges and U.S Asylum Policy - Banks Miller, Linda Camp Keith and Jennifer S. Holmes. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015
Societies Without Borders
http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/
Editor, Brian K. Gran (Case Western Reserve University)
Societies Without Borders(http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/ ), an online journal published by Sociologists Without Borders, is seeking book reviewers in the fields of sociology, international studies, political science, economics and cultural studies. In keeping with its mission to make the scholarly analysis of economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights accessible to as wide an audience as possible, Societies Without Borders is a peer-reviewed journal.
If you are interested in reviewing books for our Journal, please send your short CV to tugrulkeskin (at) pdx.edu. We have a list of books to review that you will find below; please contact me in the event that you are interested in any of the titles. Alternatively, you may also propose titles that you are willing to review.
Submissions deadlines for the coming year are June 1 and September 1, 2015.
I will mail (NOT OUTSIDE OF THE US) any of the following books to you if you express interest:
Binational Human Rights The U.S.-Mexico Experience William Paul Simmons and Carol Mueller, Editors University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Amnesties, Accountability, and Human Rights Renée Jeffery University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Moral Systems and the Evolution of Human Rights. Bruce K. Friesen. Springer, 2014
Human Rights and Disability Advocacy Edited by Maya Sabatello ad Marianne Schulze University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014
Immigration Judges and U.S Asylum Policy - Banks Miller, Linda Camp Keith and Jennifer S. Holmes. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
If I’m being racially abused I don’t need a white stranger with a saviour complex to rescue me
A woman has gone viral for defending a Muslim couple against a bigot, when all she really did was deny them a voice
Ashitha Nagesh
THE INDEPENDENT - Thursday 16 April 2015
You may have already seen the video from Australia that has gone viral today. It shows a middle-aged racist in a train ranting at a young Muslim couple, making some confusing links between the woman’s hijab and the Islamic State, Al-Shabaab’s attack in Garissa, and Muhammad “marrying a six-year-old” or something. She made no sense, as hardline racists never do. But cue superwoman Stacey Eden! A white knight in shining armour swoops in to save the day, protecting the couple from the onslaught of abuse being hurled at them from across the carriage. “She wears it for herself, OK? She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her.”
Isn’t it good Stacey was there? The couple were naturally mute and incapable of independent thought. Hell, they don’t even seem to have names, judging from most reports. They needed Stacey to save them.
Except… they didn’t.
Personally I found this video uncomfortable, but not for the reasons most other people seemed to. Yes I was disgusted by the racism, but I also felt patronised. It is just an incredibly patronising video. The couple are treated like children who can’t possibly be expected to deal with a crap situation by themselves.
READ MORE....
Ashitha Nagesh
THE INDEPENDENT - Thursday 16 April 2015
You may have already seen the video from Australia that has gone viral today. It shows a middle-aged racist in a train ranting at a young Muslim couple, making some confusing links between the woman’s hijab and the Islamic State, Al-Shabaab’s attack in Garissa, and Muhammad “marrying a six-year-old” or something. She made no sense, as hardline racists never do. But cue superwoman Stacey Eden! A white knight in shining armour swoops in to save the day, protecting the couple from the onslaught of abuse being hurled at them from across the carriage. “She wears it for herself, OK? She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her.”
Isn’t it good Stacey was there? The couple were naturally mute and incapable of independent thought. Hell, they don’t even seem to have names, judging from most reports. They needed Stacey to save them.
Except… they didn’t.
Personally I found this video uncomfortable, but not for the reasons most other people seemed to. Yes I was disgusted by the racism, but I also felt patronised. It is just an incredibly patronising video. The couple are treated like children who can’t possibly be expected to deal with a crap situation by themselves.
READ MORE....
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Cfp: Second Conference in Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights (DDHR) “Bridging the Collaborative Gap” September 25-27, 2015 The University of Tennessee
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
Second Conference in Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights (DDHR)
“Bridging the Collaborative Gap”
September 25-27, 2015
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (USA)
ABSTRACT DEADLINE APRIL 1, 2015
Earthquakes and tsunamis. Development-induced displacement. Armed conflict, terrorism, and human trafficking. Fifty-one million recognized refugees worldwide. Securitization, deportation, and criminalization regimes. Climate change and environmental chaos. Humanitarianism, human rights, and international criminal prosecutions. The quest for peace and justice. The age of the anthropocene. The world has no shortage of problems and possibilities associated with disasters, displacement and human rights. And they are not just academic.
The University of Tennessee issues a call for presentations for its second conference in Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights (DDHR). The 2015 conference theme is “Bridging the Collaborative Gap.” Collaborations within anthropology and across disciplines are increasingly vital for critically understanding the complexity of disasters, displacement, and human rights issues today. In both local settings and across the globe, from the distant past to anticipations of the future, communities of diverse experiences and aspirations also confront the very problems that preoccupy academic researchers. The 2015 DDHR conference aims to problematize and foster the practice of collaboration among academic disciplines and with DDHR-affected communities.
We encourage the participation of researchers and practitioners, graduate students and undergraduates, who address the broad themes of disasters, displacement and human rights from a range of perspectives, time periods, and experiences. We especially seek contributions from international researchers and practitioners who exemplify collaboration and/or cross-training within and/or outside of anthropology. We also solicit the participation of members of affected communities, especially those who have worked closely with anthropologists and other researchers and professionals.
Abstract submissions of no more than 250 words are invited for individual paper and poster presentations. We also invite abstracts for panel submissions and roundtables, which should include a 250-word abstract for the panel or roundtable theme and the names of participants with titles and brief (100 word) descriptions of presentations.
Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
- Development and development forced displacement and resettlement (DFDR)
- Immigration, detention, and deportation
- Refugees, asylum seekers, and internal displacement
- Climate change and the anthropocene
- Natural and anthropogenic disasters
- Torture, human trafficking, and other human rights violations
- Transitional Justice and other alternative justice models
- International human rights law and practice
- Critical humanitarianism
- Policy, politics, and international relations
- Peace and conflict studies
- Identity, discrimination, and rights-claiming
-
While submissions that directly engage with the main conference theme are appreciated, the committee will consider other topics and approaches related to the study of disasters, displacement, and human rights. Panel and roundtable proposals will be prioritized based on their demonstration of interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary, or inter-sub-disciplinary approaches.
Please send abstracts by e-mail attachment no later than April 1, 2015 to the Conference Steering Committee at: ddhr@utk.edu. Submissions should include the following information in the body of the e-mail: name, department and university (if applicable), title of paper, and audio-visual requirements. If your paper is being submitted as part of a proposed panel or for consideration under a specific theme, please include the proposed panel title or theme under the title of the paper on the abstract. If possible, panel submissions should be made by a single panel organizer.
Pending available funding, travel scholarships may be available for two student presenters and two faculty/professionals, as well as for four presenters from DDHR-affected communities who would otherwise not be able to attend.
For more information, visit: http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/faculty/ddhr.html
Tricia Redeker Hepner, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Director, Disasters, Displacement and Human Rights Program
250 South Stadium Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996
Ph: 865-974-8962
Fax: 865-974-2686
http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/faculty/hepner.html
Second Conference in Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights (DDHR)
“Bridging the Collaborative Gap”
September 25-27, 2015
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (USA)
ABSTRACT DEADLINE APRIL 1, 2015
Earthquakes and tsunamis. Development-induced displacement. Armed conflict, terrorism, and human trafficking. Fifty-one million recognized refugees worldwide. Securitization, deportation, and criminalization regimes. Climate change and environmental chaos. Humanitarianism, human rights, and international criminal prosecutions. The quest for peace and justice. The age of the anthropocene. The world has no shortage of problems and possibilities associated with disasters, displacement and human rights. And they are not just academic.
The University of Tennessee issues a call for presentations for its second conference in Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights (DDHR). The 2015 conference theme is “Bridging the Collaborative Gap.” Collaborations within anthropology and across disciplines are increasingly vital for critically understanding the complexity of disasters, displacement, and human rights issues today. In both local settings and across the globe, from the distant past to anticipations of the future, communities of diverse experiences and aspirations also confront the very problems that preoccupy academic researchers. The 2015 DDHR conference aims to problematize and foster the practice of collaboration among academic disciplines and with DDHR-affected communities.
We encourage the participation of researchers and practitioners, graduate students and undergraduates, who address the broad themes of disasters, displacement and human rights from a range of perspectives, time periods, and experiences. We especially seek contributions from international researchers and practitioners who exemplify collaboration and/or cross-training within and/or outside of anthropology. We also solicit the participation of members of affected communities, especially those who have worked closely with anthropologists and other researchers and professionals.
Abstract submissions of no more than 250 words are invited for individual paper and poster presentations. We also invite abstracts for panel submissions and roundtables, which should include a 250-word abstract for the panel or roundtable theme and the names of participants with titles and brief (100 word) descriptions of presentations.
Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
- Development and development forced displacement and resettlement (DFDR)
- Immigration, detention, and deportation
- Refugees, asylum seekers, and internal displacement
- Climate change and the anthropocene
- Natural and anthropogenic disasters
- Torture, human trafficking, and other human rights violations
- Transitional Justice and other alternative justice models
- International human rights law and practice
- Critical humanitarianism
- Policy, politics, and international relations
- Peace and conflict studies
- Identity, discrimination, and rights-claiming
-
While submissions that directly engage with the main conference theme are appreciated, the committee will consider other topics and approaches related to the study of disasters, displacement, and human rights. Panel and roundtable proposals will be prioritized based on their demonstration of interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary, or inter-sub-disciplinary approaches.
Please send abstracts by e-mail attachment no later than April 1, 2015 to the Conference Steering Committee at: ddhr@utk.edu. Submissions should include the following information in the body of the e-mail: name, department and university (if applicable), title of paper, and audio-visual requirements. If your paper is being submitted as part of a proposed panel or for consideration under a specific theme, please include the proposed panel title or theme under the title of the paper on the abstract. If possible, panel submissions should be made by a single panel organizer.
Pending available funding, travel scholarships may be available for two student presenters and two faculty/professionals, as well as for four presenters from DDHR-affected communities who would otherwise not be able to attend.
For more information, visit: http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/faculty/ddhr.html
Tricia Redeker Hepner, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Director, Disasters, Displacement and Human Rights Program
250 South Stadium Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996
Ph: 865-974-8962
Fax: 865-974-2686
http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/faculty/hepner.html
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
A New Book: Exploring International Human Rights: Essential Readings
Rhonda L. Callaway and Julie Harrelson-Stephens, editors
LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHER - 2015
Bringing together key selections that represent the full range of philosophical debates, policy analyses, and first-hand accounts, the editors offer a comprehensive and accessible set of readings on the major themes and issues in the field of international human rights. The reader has been carefully designed to enhance students' understanding not only of human rights, but also of differing perspectives on the topic.
CONTENTS:
READ MORE....
LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHER - 2015
Bringing together key selections that represent the full range of philosophical debates, policy analyses, and first-hand accounts, the editors offer a comprehensive and accessible set of readings on the major themes and issues in the field of international human rights. The reader has been carefully designed to enhance students' understanding not only of human rights, but also of differing perspectives on the topic.
CONTENTS:
- WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?
- Introduction—the Editors.
- What Are Human Rights?: Definitions and Typologies of Today's Human Rights Discourse—J. Harrelson-Stephens and R. Callaway..
- What Future for Economic and Social Rights?—D. Beetham.
- Basic Rights—H. Shue.
- The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights—J.J. Shestack.
- MEASURING HUMAN RIGHTS.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- The Limitations of Using Quantitative Data in Studying Human Rights Abuses—R.J. Goldstein.
- Measuring Human Rights: Some Issues and Options—D.L. Richards.
- The Political Terror Scale—M. Gibney and M. Dalton.
- How Are These Pictures Different?: A Quantitative Comparison of the US State Department and Amnesty International Human Rights Reports, 1976-1995—S.C. Poe, S.C. Carey, and T.C. Vazquez.
- Using the Physical Quality of Life Index to Explore the Level of Subsistence Rights—W.T. Milner and R.L. Callaway.
- INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- The Normative and Institutional Evolution of International Human Rights—T. Buergenthal.
- The International Criminal Court Controversy—R.W. Tucker.
- Refugee Flows as Ground for International Action—A. Dowty and G. Loescher.
- Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics—M.E. Keck and K. Sikkink.
- ARE HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSAL?
- Introduction—the Editors.
- The Rhetoric of Asian Values—R.L. Callaway.
- Relativism and Universalism in Human Rights: The Case of the Islamic Middle East—F. Halliday.
- American Muslims and a Meaningful Human Rights Discourse in the Aftermath of September 11, 2001—I.Z. Shakir.
- Restraining Universalism: Africanist Perspectives on Cultural Relativism in the Human Rights Discourse—B. Ibhawoh.
- WITNESS TO TORTURE.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account—M. Nyiszli.
- A Cambodian Odyssey—H. Ngor.
- One Day in My Life—B. Sands.
- The Tenth Circle of Hell—R. Hukanovic.
- Machete Season—J. Hatzfeld.
- GENDER-BASED REPRESSION.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy—K. Bales.
- Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military "Comfort Women"—K. Wantanabe.
- Rights of Women Within Islamic Communities—R. Hassan.
- Female Circumcision Comes to America—L. Burstyn.
- CHILDREN AS TARGETS.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- Child Labor as a Human Rights Issue: Efforts, Mistakes, and Solutions —Z.F.K. Arat.
- Child Marriage in Afghanistan and Pakistan—A. Bushell.
- Child Slaves in Modern India: The Bonded Labor Problem—L. Tucker.
- The Sex Trade Industry's Worldwide Exploitation of Children—R.B. Flowers.
- The Political Economy of War-Affected Children—S. Hick.
- GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- Achieving Human Rights: The Globalization Debate—J. Harrelson-Stephens.
- Globalization and Human Rights—R. McCorquodale and R. Fairbrother.
- The Tragedy of Tauccamarca: A Human Rights Perspective on the Pesticide Poisoning of 24 Children in the Peruvian Andes—E. Rosenthal.
- Strategic Violations: The Outsourcing of Human Rights Abuses—N. Gordon.
- The Singer Solution to Poverty—P. Singer.
- HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WAR ON TERROR.
- Introduction—the Editors.
- Human Rights Violations as a Catalyst for Terrorist Activity—the Editors.
- Leading by Example?: US Interrogation of Prisoners in the War on Terror —E. Massimino.
- Human Rights Post-September 11—J. Mertus and T. Sajjad.
A New Book: Human Rights in International Politics: An Introduction
Franke Wilmer
LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHER - 2015
This comprehensive introduction to the study of human rights in
international politics blends concrete developments with theoretical
inquiry, illuminating both in the process. Franke Wilmer presents the nuts and bolts of human rights concepts,
actors, and implementation before grappling with issues ranging from war
and genocide to social and economic needs to racial and religious
discrimination. Two themes—the tension between values and interests, and
the role of the state as both a protector of human rights and a
perpetrator of human rights violations—are reflected throughout the
text. The result is a clear, accessible exposition of the evolution of
international human rights, as well as the challenges that those rights
pose, in the context of the state system.
CONTENTS:
LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHER - 2015
This comprehensive introduction to the study of human rights in
international politics blends concrete developments with theoretical
inquiry, illuminating both in the process. Franke Wilmer presents the nuts and bolts of human rights concepts,
actors, and implementation before grappling with issues ranging from war
and genocide to social and economic needs to racial and religious
discrimination. Two themes—the tension between values and interests, and
the role of the state as both a protector of human rights and a
perpetrator of human rights violations—are reflected throughout the
text. The result is a clear, accessible exposition of the evolution of
international human rights, as well as the challenges that those rights
pose, in the context of the state system.CONTENTS:
- Introduction.
- WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?
- Human Rights: Concepts and Theories.
- Human Rights in Historical Context.
- Are Human Rights Universal?
- ACTORS AND IMPLEMENTATION.
- Human Rights and the State.
- Implementation and Enforcement.
- The Role of Nonstate Actors.
- CONTEMPORARY ISSUES.
- Genocide.
- The Laws of War.
- Civil Liberties and Political Rights.
- Civil Rights and Identity Politics.
- Women's Rights.
- Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
- WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
- The Future of International Human Rights.
- What Can I Do?
Monday, March 9, 2015
İnsan Hakları Tarihi - Erol Anar
CHIVI YAZILARI - 2000
"Yayınlandı... üç gün sonra toplatıldı... 1 yıl 3 ay yasaklı kaldı! Beraat etti! Genişletilmiş, gözden geçirilmiş yeni baskısı..." İnsan Hakları, düşünce özgürlüğü, bireysel haklar, demokrasinin yapıcı unsurlarıdır ve bunlar asla soyut birer biçim sorunu değildir. İnsan Hakları, ne yazık ki Türkiye'nin başlıca sorunlarından biri olmayı sürdürüyor. Üstelik daha başka pek çok kavram gibi, insan haklarının tam olarak neyi ifade ettiğini de bildiğimiz, kavramı sağlıklı biçimde yerli yerine oturttuğumuz söylenemez. Anar, Türkiye tarihinin insan hakları açısından kilometre taşlarını oluşturan dönemlerin değerlendirmesini yapıyor, kavramı belli başlı boyutlarıyla ele alarak tarihsel gelişimi içinde yerli yerine oturtuyor. Bu yönüyle İnsan Hakları Tarihi kitabı, aynı zamanda birey bilincinin oluşmasının, birey ve toplum kavramlarıyla bu kavramlar arasındaki bağın gözler önüne serilmesinin de tarihidir... İnsan Hakları Tarihi, Türkiye'nin ve dünyanın bu temel sorunuyla ilgili olarak ülkemizde yayınlanan ilk ve tek kitap olma özelliğini sürdürüyor.
DEVAMINI OKUMAK ICIN.....
DEVAMINI OKUMAK ICIN.....
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
A New Book: Spaces of Aid How Cars, Compounds and Hotels Shape Humanitarianism
Lisa Smirl
Zed Books - 2015
Aid workers commonly bemoan that the experience of working in the field
sits uneasily with the goals they’ve signed up to: visiting project
sites in air-conditioned Land Cruisers while the intended beneficiaries
walk barefoot through the heat, or checking emails from within gated
compounds while surrounding communities have no running water. Spaces of Aid provides the first book-length analysis of what has
colloquially been referred to as Aid Land. It explores in depth two
high-profile case studies, the Aceh tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, in
order to uncover a fascinating history of the objects and spaces that
have become an endemic yet unexamined part of the delivery of
humanitarian assistance.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Stories from the field, stories of 'the field': how aid workers experience the space of the field mission
2. Exploring the humanitarian enclave
3. How the built environment shapes humanitarian intervention
4. Building home away from home: post-tsunami Aceh and the single-family house
5. Playing house: rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Katrina
Conclusion
READ MORE.....
Zed Books - 2015
Aid workers commonly bemoan that the experience of working in the field
sits uneasily with the goals they’ve signed up to: visiting project
sites in air-conditioned Land Cruisers while the intended beneficiaries
walk barefoot through the heat, or checking emails from within gated
compounds while surrounding communities have no running water. Spaces of Aid provides the first book-length analysis of what has
colloquially been referred to as Aid Land. It explores in depth two
high-profile case studies, the Aceh tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, in
order to uncover a fascinating history of the objects and spaces that
have become an endemic yet unexamined part of the delivery of
humanitarian assistance.Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Stories from the field, stories of 'the field': how aid workers experience the space of the field mission
2. Exploring the humanitarian enclave
3. How the built environment shapes humanitarian intervention
4. Building home away from home: post-tsunami Aceh and the single-family house
5. Playing house: rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Katrina
Conclusion
READ MORE.....
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Critical Impairments to Globalizing the Western Human Rights Discourse
Nikitah O. Imani, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Nikitah O. Imani. "Critical Impairments to Globalizing the Western Human Rights Discourse" Sociologists Without Borders 3.2 (2008): 270-284.
ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the philosophical implications of Euro-centrism and Eurocentric discourse for the Western human rights narrative. It is argued that there is insufficient theoretical and practical consideration of those implications, particular for advocacy and activity in the so-called “Third World” where such arguments frequently become mere vehicles for the advance of economic and political neocolonialism. In many ways, colonialism with a humanistic, liberal democratic “face”. Finally, a proposition is advanced that if the Western human rights discourse is to be effectively corrected and evolve into a global one, critiques of Euro-centrism from outside the Western discursive world must be taken seriously.
READ MORE.......
Nikitah O. Imani. "Critical Impairments to Globalizing the Western Human Rights Discourse" Sociologists Without Borders 3.2 (2008): 270-284.
ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the philosophical implications of Euro-centrism and Eurocentric discourse for the Western human rights narrative. It is argued that there is insufficient theoretical and practical consideration of those implications, particular for advocacy and activity in the so-called “Third World” where such arguments frequently become mere vehicles for the advance of economic and political neocolonialism. In many ways, colonialism with a humanistic, liberal democratic “face”. Finally, a proposition is advanced that if the Western human rights discourse is to be effectively corrected and evolve into a global one, critiques of Euro-centrism from outside the Western discursive world must be taken seriously.
READ MORE.......
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The facts — and a few myths — about Saudi Arabia and human rights
By Adam Taylor
The Washington Post - February 9, 2015
For almost 70 years, Saudi Arabia has been a vital U.S. ally in the Middle East. The relationship, which famously opened in a meeting on the Suez Canal between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first Saudi king, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, is based around shared concerns about regional security and crude oil supplies. It has proved remarkably durable, despite a rapidly changing world.
Over the past few months, however, something seems to have shifted. Americans and other Westerners seem to have grown more and more skeptical about the true nature of their ally. In particular, an unusual set of circumstances -- including the fearsome rise of the Islamic State, the death of Saudi King Abdullah and renewed concerns about Saudi links to the 9/11 attacks -- has led to a significant public debate about Saudi Arabia's true values.
READ MORE....
The Washington Post - February 9, 2015
For almost 70 years, Saudi Arabia has been a vital U.S. ally in the Middle East. The relationship, which famously opened in a meeting on the Suez Canal between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first Saudi king, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, is based around shared concerns about regional security and crude oil supplies. It has proved remarkably durable, despite a rapidly changing world.
Over the past few months, however, something seems to have shifted. Americans and other Westerners seem to have grown more and more skeptical about the true nature of their ally. In particular, an unusual set of circumstances -- including the fearsome rise of the Islamic State, the death of Saudi King Abdullah and renewed concerns about Saudi links to the 9/11 attacks -- has led to a significant public debate about Saudi Arabia's true values.
READ MORE....
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
A New Article: Constellations of Human Rights
Sylvanna Martina Falcón
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY
JAN. 2015
Sylvanna M Falcón, Department of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Email: smfalcon (at) ucsc.edu
ABSTRACT:
This article explores the production of human rights discourse by examining the organization and social actors involved in its construction. The author proposes a triad constellation configuration for situating the varied engagements of human rights by different constituencies at the United Nations level: dominant understandings, counterpublic approaches, and social praxis. Dominant understandings are affiliated with the Western-legal apparatus, counterpublic approaches embrace antiracist and feminist epistemologies, and social praxis is about the mediation between the first two constellations. This article argues that the social praxis constellation is where the discourse of human rights can be inventive and dynamic because an envisioning of human rights moves beyond the rubric of civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights.
READ THIS ARTICLE......
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY
JAN. 2015
Sylvanna M Falcón, Department of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Email: smfalcon (at) ucsc.edu
ABSTRACT:
This article explores the production of human rights discourse by examining the organization and social actors involved in its construction. The author proposes a triad constellation configuration for situating the varied engagements of human rights by different constituencies at the United Nations level: dominant understandings, counterpublic approaches, and social praxis. Dominant understandings are affiliated with the Western-legal apparatus, counterpublic approaches embrace antiracist and feminist epistemologies, and social praxis is about the mediation between the first two constellations. This article argues that the social praxis constellation is where the discourse of human rights can be inventive and dynamic because an envisioning of human rights moves beyond the rubric of civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights.
READ THIS ARTICLE......
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