Fractured Dialogues: The Crisis of Human Rights

Editors, Helen Delfeld and V.G. Julie Rajan, Rutgers University

In the past few decades we have seen at least two dialogues on human rights,
which have been fractured even in their emergence. The first is the positive
assertion of rights, especially through legal regimes. The second loose
grouping of activists and scholars are troubled by four issues: the
universalizing nature of rights talk; the Western bias evident in common
discussions of rights; the contradictions masked by the apparent moral
simplicity of rights talk; and the hegemonic nature of the problems that are
discussed. It is this second dialogue to which we seek to give voice.

The Editors propose a volume of essays revealing the current crisis in
ideological approaches to human rights. Our goal is to address contradictory
paradigms in human rights dialogues and to reveal news ways of approaching
traditional problems in human rights. Ultimately, we hope to expand the
discourse of human rights, recognizing the normative usefulness of rights
talk, while addressing the problematic nature of some prior assumptions.

We invite proposals concerning legal, academic, and activist oriented
considerations of human rights. Topics to consider (although perspectives
that do not match this list are welcome, as long as your work fits the
overall framework):

Gender and Sexuality
Human Rights and Resistance
Migration, History, and Memory
Globalization and "Explortation"
The Environment and Human Rights

Deadline for abstract submissions is December 15, 2006.

Please send a 1-page abstract and short biography to Helen Delfeld and V.G.
Julie Rajan at traveler1001_at_gmail.com.

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Received on Sun Nov 05 2006 - 22:38:54 EST