Politics and Social Change Commons^™

Gay Teachers In Catholic Schools: A Conflict Of Human Rights, Ish Ruiz

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

What happens when a person’s exercise of a human right conflicts with another’s enjoyment of a human right? Such is the case when a gay teacher in a Catholic school is fired as the school exercises its right to religious freedom in order to ensure its teachers live lives consistent with Church teaching.

As religious institutions, Catholic schools are protected by a ministerial exception that offers legal immunity to Catholic educational institutions that fire gay and lesbian teachers (teachers are sometimes considered “ministers” by the courts). In many states these firings on the basis of sexual orientation or ...

Elections In The Shadow Of Ebola: Sierra Leone’S African Socialist Movement And The Struggle For Democracy, Joshua Mcdermott

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

The West African eEbola outbreak of 2014-15 claimed the lives of nearly 12,000 people, most of them from the Mano River region, comprising Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Conakry, three of the world’s poorest nations. In the wake of the outbreak, Sierra Leone’s ruling party, the All People’s Congress (APC), postponed the country’s 2017 elections for one year, under the pretext that the crisis had undermined the agenda of the president, Ernest Bai Koroma.

Authoritarianism is not new to Sierra Leone: The APC ruled the small coastal nation under a one-party state from the 1960s until ...

Where Do We Go From Here? Charting Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Human Rights City Boston Resolution, Kostas Koutsioumpas, Maggie Schneider, Matthew Annunziato

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a common standard of achievement and called upon every individual and organ of society to promote the rights enshrined in the document. The UDHR has been applied in many ways around the world, including by the international Human Rights Cities movement, which began in Rosario, Argentina, in 1997.

Today more than two dozen Human Rights Cities have formed around the globe, including at least nine in the United States (Washington, DC; Eugene, OR; Pittsburgh, PA; Chapel Hill, NC; Columbus, IN; Jackson, MI; Seattle, WA; Mountain View ...

Faith-Based Resistance, Human Rights, And Emancipatory Practices, Curtis Kline

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

Progressive political theologies can expand and deepen both the strength and the conceptualization of human rights advocacy. However, not all political theologies are an effort to defend human dignity; neither are all understandings and practices of human rights. The validation of progressive political theologies as well as the validation of human rights conceptualizations comes from their capacity to concretely change the lived reality of poor and oppressed peoples of the world.

As with political theologies, there is a constant struggle over the control of how to conceptualize what constitutes a human rights issue. While many communities of faith find liberating ...

To Be Human In A Dehumanizing World: Black Lives Matter And The Human Rights Framework, Maria Rohani

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

This paper explores the relationship between Black Lives Matter and the human rights regime.

First, the study contextualizes the contemporary movement within the long and complicated historical relationship between racial justice struggles and the international human rights system. Second, the paper looks at the available human rights tools that could advance the goals of Black Lives Matter, with a focus on relevant international treaties, the Inter-American System, and the Universal Periodic Review. Third, the project studies the ways in which Black Lives Matter has, on its own, already engaged with human rights discourse.

Here, a sample of Twitter content will ...

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Intellectual Property Chapter Of The Tpp: Confirming What The Critics Fear, Karyn Hollis

communication +1

A host of organizations and citizens groups have convincingly pointed out that so called “Free Trade Agreements” have done more harm than good to the U.S. and other countries involved. Thanks to their protests, for the moment, the most ambitious multinational, neoliberal project of our young century, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has been defeated. If the agreement had been adopted, the TPP would have shaped new rules of trade for over 8 million people, spanning 40% of the global economy. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), my study shows how the complex language of the actual treaty compared to its ...

The Dod's Cultural Policy: Militarizing The Cultural Industries, Tanner Mirrlees

communication +1

In pursuit of this Special Issue’s goal to “push the traditional boundaries of cultural policy studies,” this article conceptualizes the US Department of Defense (DoD) as a cultural policy agency. All cultural policy is goal-oriented and aims to act within and have effects upon “the cultural.” Cultural policy scholars examine how State agencies, policies, and regulations act upon to influence: the cultural industries; cultural texts; and, national identities and citizen-subjects. Although the US Federal government has no official cultural policy agency like Canada (the Department of Heritage) or France (the Ministry of Culture), this article conceptualizes the DoD—one ...

“Undocumented” Ways Of Navigating Complex Sociopolitical Realities In Higher Education: A Critical Race Counterstory, Alonso R. Reyna Rivarola

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

In the United States, undocumented students must navigate complex sociopolitical realities to access and succeed in higher education. These complex sociopolitical realities are shaped by federal policies on education and immigration, state-specific legislation on education and public policy, as well as general attitudes regarding race, immigration, and nationalism in the U.S. In this manuscript, I weave in counter-storytelling to document some of the ways one undocumented student accessed and navigated U.S. higher education. I begin by reviewing the national and state policy contexts that affect undocumented students in the U.S. I focus a state policy analysis in ...

Unpacking The Mind Of Evil: A Sociological Perspective On The Role Of Intent And Motivations In Genocide, Timothy Williams, Dominik Pfeiffer

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

For quite some time, theories on the role of intent in genocide were conceptually frozen in polarised liberal and post-liberal, or purpose- and knowledge-based approaches, respectively. In accordance with recent criminological thought that moves beyond the narrow debate, this article develops a new sociological perspective on the role of intent in genocide. Drawing on frame analysis it is argued that intent is mainly relevant for framing genocidal action at the macro level. However, individual low-level perpetrators act from a large number of different motivations, of which ideologies of intent are only one. Others range from obedience to authority, coercion and ...

Child And Adolescent Commercial Sexual Exploitation In Mexico: The Exploiters And The State, Sonia M. Frias, Mariajosé Gómez-Zaldívar

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a form of violence in which children, mainly girls and female adolescents, are reduced to sexual objects for rent. In this study, we argue that the concept of who is an exploiter must be broadened to include everyone who directly or indirectly benefits from CSEC. This paper is based on life stories of 10 female residents from a shelter, which we call Casa Libertad (a fictitious name) in Mexico City, for female victims of violence. Researchers also used semi-structured interviews with experts on CSEC to examine the exploiters' profiles. The research challenges the ...

The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura

David Ingram

Habermas claims that an inclusive public sphere is the only deliberative forum for generating public opinion that satisfies the epistemic and normative conditions underlying legitimate decision-making. He adds that digital technologies and other mass media need not undermine – but can extend – rational deliberation when properly instituted. This paper draws from social epistemology and technology studies to demonstrate the epistemic and normative limitations of this extension. We argue that current online communication structures fall short of satisfying the required epistemic and normative conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which Internet-based communications contribute to legitimate democratic opinion and will formation depends on the ...

Material Support Laws And Critical Race Theory, Nichole M. Pace

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

The paper examines terrorism designation and material support laws for structural racism using Critical Race Theory. Legislation concerning terrorist organizations continues to limit efforts of humanitarian organizations and refugee applicants. The impact of such legislation extends beyond the designated terrorist organizations to the communities and countries they inhabit. This article describes the legal statutes and issues related to terrorist designation and material support laws before defining Critical Race Theory. The article seeks to understand the structural racism involved in the defined statutes and procedures. Using Critical Race Theory, the article defines how material support laws and terrorist designation procedures are ...

Trade Union Trade-Offs: Unions, Voters, And The Rise Of Right-Wing Populism, Kim Gabbitas

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Trade union membership in European Union member states has been in decline for decades, which has many concerned about the future of workers’ rights. While existing work examines the reasons for this decline, my research shifts the focus from union density to the functions unions serve and how these functions affect and are affected by changing electoral behavior. I examine the rise of right-wing populist movements in Europe and how these movements and the challenges today’s labor unions face can be traced to the same underlying forces. I argue that, as the relevance of trade unions declines for blue-collar ...

Racism, Oligarchy And Contentious Politics In Bermuda, Andrea Dean

MA Research Paper

In 1959, ‘blacks’ in Bermuda boycotted the island’s movie theatres and held nightly protests over segregated seating practices. By all accounts the 1959 Theatre Boycott was one of the most significant episodes of contentious politics in contemporary Bermuda, challenging social norms that had been in existence for 350 years. While the trajectory and outcomes of ‘black’ Bermudians’ transgressive social protests could not have been predicted, this analysis uses racism, oligarchy and contentious politics as conceptual tools to illuminate the social mechanisms and processes that eventually led to the end of formal racial segregation in Bermuda after less than three ...

Femmes, Migration, Et Prostitution En Europe: Il N’Est Pas Question De “Travail De Sexe”, Anna Zobnina

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Beyond Massage Parlors: Exposing The Korean Commercial Sex Market In The United States, Youngbee Dale, Amy Levesque

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

This paper describes the Korean commercial sex market in the U.S. beyond massage parlors. Prior to this study, the U.S. anti-trafficking efforts have heavily focused on combating massage parlors to fight prostitution and sex trafficking of Korean women in the U.S. This paper introduces the shift of trends taking place within the Korean sex market as a result of changing culture and policies. It then introduces various brothel models exploiting Korean women in the U.S. It also brings a more holistic view of the Korean sex market in the U.S. by relying on primary and ...

Sex Trafficking Survivor, Pro-Life Advocate, Darlene Pawlik

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

I was conceived by rape. I was mentally, physically and sexually abused as a child. I endured four years of juvenile sex trafficking. These experiences shaped my views on abortion and pro-life issues. Drawing from my personal experience and the experiences of others, as well as referring to empirical evidence, I set forth the position that children conceived through sexual violence are no less deserving of protection than those conceived in loving relationships. Preserving the health and dignity of sexual abuse survivors is important and supportive help is needed.

Trump’S “America First” Trade Policy And The Politics Of U.S. International Investment Agreements, Jesse Liss

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous sociological studies on U.S. trade policy institutions concluded that “free trade” political actors had durable power to determine U.S. trade policy. This conclusion was proven wrong when the Trump administration promised “a new direction” and to implement an “America First” trade policy. My dissertation serves to explain the U.S.’ political transition away from “free trade” and towards “nationalist” trade policy. I do this by examining the politics of U.S. international investment agreements, which are central to U.S. trade policy. As case studies, I use the investment agreements from the North American Free Trade Agreement ...

Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space ...

Never Forgets: Traumatic Trace Within Public Space, Jan Descartes

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper will interrogate the ways in which ephemera from events affects the human and non- human environment and how the absence, manipulation or presence of traumatic trace weaves itself into the atmosphere of the past, present and future. It will look at space and the ways that trace manifests itself in hierarchal spaces and Lebbeus Woods’ concept of heterarchial spaces, which are organic and/or horizontally organized. A thread throughout is the question that if trace from trauma can exist in the visual field, i.e. the physical or digital landscape, in a way that maintains a discourse without ...