HUMAN RIGHTS SYMPOSIUM 2008

Socio-political Meanings of Human Rights in Cultural Contexts

June 27, 2008

IMPRESSIONS

HIGHLIGHTS

Keynote address Dr. John P. Linstroth (Nova Southeastern University) - The Meaning of Rights, and The Right to Meaning

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PANEL 1: The many faces of Human Rights: Examining theory, method and practice

Rebecca Dominguez-Karimi (Florida Atlantic University) - Oral History as a Means of Moral Repair

Benjamin L. Augustyn (Florida International University) - A Working Class Hero?: Green Day, Darfur, and the American Popular Imagination

Jeanette Smith (National Farmworker Ministry/ Florida International University) - Migrant Workers: Conditions of Exploitation and Abuse

Jeff Nall (Florida Atlantic University) - Enlightened Eunuch, Violent Dissent: Accessing the Problems of Empowering Enlightenment and the Political Use of Violence

Dr. Simon Glynn (Florida Atlantic University) - Democracy, Liberalism and Human Rights

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PANEL 2: The dialectics of human rights and education

Dr. Laura Finley (Barry University) - Human Rights and U.S. High Schools

Ronald Allan Mabunga (Nova Southeastern University, DCAR) - Analysis of the Human Rights Education Policies in the Philippines

Dr. Michael J. Lenaghan (Miami Dade College) - From Conflict Culture to Culture of Peace
Through Human Rights Immersed Service Learning: Case Study

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Keynote address Dr. Noemi Marin (Florida Atlantic University) - Conflict, Culture and Discourse in Global Times

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Dr.Elena Bastidas, Cristina Andriana, Tami Rafidi (Nova Southeastern University) - Discussants/Concluding remarks

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Dr.John P. Linstroth (Nova Southeastern University) - J. P. Linstroth received his D.Phil. degree in Social Anthropology from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford, UK (2002). The focus of his D.Phil. research was centered upon Spanish-Basques and provided fresh insight to studies of conflict, gender, history, locality, nationalism, performance, and ritual. Aspects of his research have far reaching implications for the study of disputes, violence, and conflict resolution.In recent years, his particular focus is and has been on ethnic minorities and their rights in relation to majority-cultures and states. Of particular importance to him is rethinking ideas of violence and peace by providing a new theory for cognitive anthropology through an examination of ethnographic research and its implications for anthropology, psychology, sociology, political science, international relations, and conflict resolution.

Dr. Linstroth was recently awarded a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholar Grant (2008-2009) to Brazil. While in Brazil, he will be a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM) and he will be conducting research on urban Amerindians in Manaus (a large city in the state of Amazonas). Dr. Linstroth has published widely on a variety of issues in relation to his multifaceted research. He believes in an interdisciplinary approach to conflict analysis and resolution with an emphasis upon anthropological perspectives. He has been invited to international conferences in the Basque Country, Spain, Germany, Australia, and to various conferences in the United States to present on his scholarly work. He is also a co-recipient of an Alexander Von Humboldt Grant for research on ethnicity, identity, and belonging among Cuban, Haitian, and Guatemalan-Maya immigrant groups in South Florida.

Dr. Noemi Marin (Florida Atlantic University) - Noemi Marin, a native of Romania, teaches Classical and Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, Public Intellectuals in Post-Communism, Gender and Communication, among other courses in the Department. She is also a Fulbright Instructor on Intercultural Communication in Southeastern Europe. Her research examines relationships between culture and the rhetoric of resistance in Eastern and Central Europe, in particular public discourse engaging public intellectuals and democratic processes. She is the executive editor for the Journal of Literacy and Technology. Recent publications include contributions in journals and books such as: East European Politics and Societies, Advances in the History of Rhetoric, Realms of Exile: Nomadism, Diasporas, and Eastern European Voices, and Intercultural Communication and Creative Practice: Music, Dance, and Womens’ Cultural Identities.

Rationale:
In our current world the majority of our societies are facing different forms of structural violence, i.e. the ongoing and institutionalized deprivation of needs of survival, well-being, identity and freedom (Galtung, 1969). The physical manifestation of structural violence can be seen in broad forms of assaults to human rights on different levels and in different contexts: wars, torture, political violence, personal revenge, confrontations, disappearing of individuals are examples of how far human beings can go in order to obtain power, recognition, wealth or domination. Moreover, contemporary societies often function on the basis of sharp antinomies such as inclusions/exclusion, right/wrong or moral/immoral. Consequently societal structures determine which groups’ and individuals’ worldviews and ways of living are acceptable and which ones are discriminated against.   
           
Scholars are critically examining human rights from different disciplinary perspectives through a myriad of cultural, geographical, philosophical, ideological, historical and social lenses. Whereas human rights are declared universal, state agents as well as out-of-state actors have harmed individuals and groups in the name of peace, in the defense of national territory, for a national idea, in the name of religion, etc. The clashes in Tibet, the crisis in Darfur, the Bedouins in Israel are extraordinary examples of how different cultural and political dynamics lead to ever-changing interpretations of human rights. State agents as well as out of state actors have also attempted to reconcile and preserve human rights as ‘neutral’ third party interveners such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture or the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Any of these examples of human rights violations and negotiations raise issues of sociocultural relativity: whether individual rights take precedence over group/communal rights, how previously colonized societies exert self-determination to rise out of humiliation, and the highlighting of the continuum of injustice to justice.

Our contention is that a rigid thus limited interpretation of human rights that fails to address cultural differences and nuances weakens the claim for universally accepted human rights. 

Our symposium proposes to re-examine assumptions of universal human rights by discussing different interpretations of human rights in diverse cultural context. In particular we are interested in – but not limited to - addressing issues of human rights in relation to minorities, resistance (violent and nonviolent), LGBT, social identities, environment, violence and terror, pre-emption, expression, refugees/immigrants, self-defense, morality, perpetrators/supporters/bystanders and nationalism. We encourage interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. conflict analysis and resolution, anthropology, sociology, law and social psychology) that further academic debate, social theorizing and develop new understandings of human rights discourse. Given the fact human rights discourses are underlying factors to the field of conflict analysis and resolution, problematizing these notions is essential for strengthening this and other academic fields.

We will have presentations by academic experts in the field of human rights as well as speakers who have suffered human rights violations, to present and discuss their cutting-edge research and/or experiences on broad facetted aspects of human rights. We also included outstanding student papers/presentations into the sessions. We encourage attendance by scholars, students, and groups/individuals interested in human rights.

Seating is limited. To secure your seat please register by sending an email with your name and affiliation to symposium[at]culture-conflict.org.

If you have any questions or encounter difficulties with the form please contact Patrick Hiller at symposium[at]culture-conflict.org.