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Sept. 18  Margin or Mainstream:  Is Human Rights a Social Movement?

A discussion of how social movements have shaped human rights discourse with Timothy Patrick McCarthy and Elliott Prasse-Freeman.

Preparatory Readings:

• Part of the discussion will engage the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and so we ask that students familiarize themselves with this document before Friday's session: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
  
  
• The first chapter of James Jasper's Passion and Purpose: Action Theory of Social Movements: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/hrsm/pdf/JamesJasper_SM_Theory.pdf.

View Notes from the Meeting

Sept. 25  On Gender and Justice:  Can Feminism Go Global?

A discussion of the global implications of feminism with Kim Gandy, Fall Institute of Politics Fellow and former president, National Organization for Women.

Preparatory Readings:

• Hillary Rodham Clinton, Remarks to the UN 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, September 5, 1995:
  http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm
  
  
• Benazir Bhutto, Remarks to the UN 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, September 4, 1995:
  http://www.ppp.org.pk/mbb/speeches/speeche49.html
  
  
• Selection on the status of women (in relation to need for CEDAW treaty):
  http://www.womenstreaty.org/facts_home.htm#world
  
  
• Millennium Project: Population
  http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/Global_Challenges/chall-03.html
  
  
• Millennium Project: Status of Women
  http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/Global_Challenges/chall-11.html

Oct. 16  The Politics of Identity:  Are Gay Rights and Civil Rights Human Rights?

A discussion of the problem of coalition building in rights-based social movements with Rev. Irene Monroe, activist, theologian, and Huffington Post blogger.

Preparatory Readings:

• "White Privilege Harms Struggle":
  http://www.washblade.com/2005/2-25/view/columns/index.cfm
  
  
• "Gay is Not the New Black":
  http://www.washblade.com/2008/12-26/view/columns/13818.cfm
  
  
• "Race, Religion, and Proposition 8":  http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2008/11/12/Race,_Religion,_and_Proposition_8/
  
  
• "Proposition 8 is Not about Black Homophobia":
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/proposition-8-is-not-abou_b_142994.html
  
  
• "This Era of Black Women and HIV/AIDS":
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/this-era-of-black-women-a_b_147882.html
  
  
• “Barack Obama: Our First Gay President?”
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-patrick-mccarthy/barack-obama-americas-fir_b_315860.html
  
  
• Timothy Patrick McCarthy, “Stonewall's Children: Life, Loss, and Love after Liberation,” The 2009 Nicholas Papadopoulos Lecture, Harvard Kennedy School; April 24, 2009.
  printable text   |  video

View Notes from the Meeting

Oct. 30  On Difference and Domination:  Can Islamists Have Human Rights?

A discussion of human rights in the Middle East with Sayres Rudy, visiting professor, Hampshire College, and Malalai Joya, Afghan Parliamentarian.

Preparatory Readings:

• Interviews from Gaza:  http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol9/0212_gaess.asp
  
  
• Algerian Prisons, Sayres S. Rudy: /cchrp/hrsm/pdf/AlgeriaPrisons.pdf
  
  
• Feminism, the Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency by Charles Hirschkind and Saba Mahmood:
  http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/3318265
  (NOTE: Access requires PIN authentication. For attendees without PIN access, please email prasse@post.harvard.edu for the article.)

Nov. 13  Opiate of the Masses or Tool of Liberation:  What’s God Got to Do With It?

A discussion of the Accra Confession with Jonathan Page, Epps Fellow and assistant chaplain, The Memorial Church, and Susan Abraham, assistant professor, Harvard Divinity School.

Preparatory Readings:

• The Accra Confession:  http://warc.jalb.de/warcajsp/side.jsp?news_id=159&navi=1
  
  
• A Concise History of Liberation Theology: http://www.landreform.org/boff2.htm

Dec. 2  Suspending Indigenous Rights: Paternalism and Coercion
             in Australia's 'Intervention' in Aboriginal Communities.

A special brown-bag lunch talk by Sarah Maddison, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University of South Wales.

Co-sponsored by The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

Preparatory Readings:

• Maddison, S. (2008), “Indigenous autonomy matters: what’s wrong with the Australian government’s ‘intervention’ in Aboriginal communities,” Australian Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 14, No. 1.: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AJHR/2008/3.pdf

Sarah Maddison, Ph.D., is an Australian author and Senior Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science at University of New South Wales. She is also acting Deputy Director of the Indigenous Policy and Dialogue Research Unit under the direction of Professor Patrick Dodson and Chair of the Board of The Australia Institute, an independent progressive think tank. She has published widely in the areas of young women and feminist activism, social movements, non-government organisations and democracy. Dr. Maddison’s research is primarily in the field of Australian social movements, including current research on the Indigenous rights movement and the women’s movement. Her books include Activist Wisdom (2006, with Sean Scalmer), Silencing Dissent (2007, co-edited with Clive Hamilton), and Collective Identity and Australian Feminist Activism (2008). She has also co-authored, with Emma Partridge, the gender and sexuality audit reports for the Democratic Audit of Australia (2007). Her most recent book, Black Politics, which explores the complexity of Aboriginal political culture, was published by Allen and Unwin early in 2009 and was recently awarded the Henry Mayer Trust Prize for the best book on Australian politics. Dr. Maddison received a 2009 Churchill Fellowship to study models of Indigenous representation in the United States and Canada in 2010.

Dec. 4  Disposable or Indispensable:  Why Does Slavery Still Exist?

A discussion of modern-day slavery and human trafficking with Ben Skinner and Siddharth Kara, Carr Center Fellows.