Human Rights Law Commons^™

Faces Of Oppression, Valerie Borum

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Notes From The Field: The Criminalization Of Undocumented Migrants: Legalities And Realities, Tanya Golash-Boza

Societies Without Borders

Undocumented migrants are not criminals. Detention is not prison. Deportation is not punishment. These are truths in the legal system of the United States. However, undocumented migrants are treated like criminals; detainees feel as if they are in prison; and deportees experience their exclusion as punishment. This article examines the contradictions between legal arguments which indicate that immigration proceedings are not criminal proceedings and the experiences of deportees who often feel as if they were treated like criminals and that banishment from the country in which they have lived most of their lives is a cruel punishment.

Book Review Of Achieving Human Rights, Fatemeh Shayan

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

International Human Rights Law In Japan: The View At Thirty, Timothy Webster

Faculty Publications

Japanese courts have become increasingly open to the use of international human rights law in the past two decades. This paper examines several of the key decisions that reflect the judiciary's embrace of international law, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure and minority rights. I argue that the judiciary has eclipsed the other branches of government as the primary disseminator of human rights norms in Japan.

We Are The Ones We’Ve Been Waiting For: Human Rights And Us/U.S., David L. Brunsma

Societies Without Borders

Since 2002, SSF, internationally, has been at the forefront of an epistemological revolution within sociology. Specifically, SSF-US has had the difficult task of bringing the United States into a critical dialogue with other voices and perspectives – voices which are much more deeply rooted in human rights than most United Statesian sociologists. In this article, I outline eight ways to underscore the Hopi saying that, "we are the ones we've been waiting for": 1) remapping our cognitions away from individualism and capitalism; 2) socializing for humanity, not citizenry; 3) recognizing our common needs and common vulnerabilities; 4) creating new identities …

Notes From The Field: The Sociology Of Conspiracy: A Cultural Commentary On Structural Adjustment, Muhammed Asadi

Societies Without Borders

„Conspiracy theory‟ as a convenient rhetorical rebuttal has been culturally constructed as quick refutation of otherwise distasteful, never mind factual ideas by the elite. All social interventions that seek structural adjustment, adjustments that have not yet been institutionalized and made „automatic‟, involve some form of conspiracy, a coor- dinated intervention for structure maintenance. In this essay I examine the anti- affirmative action „movement‟ in the U.S. that levels the charge of reverse discrimina- tion, to conclude that every extra institutional adjustment involves conspiracy and leads to unintended consequences which require further conspiratorial action by the elite. It is within such …

Reborn: A Note From The Editors, David L. Brunsma, Keri E. Iyall Smith, Mark Frezzo

Societies Without Borders

In the Fall of 2009 Brill, confronted with budget challenges, chose to terminate its publication of Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences. There were two ways to respond to this change: shop the journal to other publishers or look into a closer relationship with Sociologists Without Borders/ Sociólogos Sin Fronteras (SSF). The answer was clear almost immediately—we should look for a way for SSF to publish Societies Without Borders. This would free us from the tides of capitalism and allow SSF to push the boundaries of what it means to publish in academic journals.

The …

The Care, Custody, And Control Of Incarcerated Women In Ecuador, Jill Harrison, Maureen Norton-Hawk

Societies Without Borders

This paper presents findings on the custody, care and control of incarcerated women in Ecuador. Although the interrelationship of abuse, poverty, drugs and incarceration is often perceived as a U.S. phenomenon, this paper presents data on a group of structurally and institutionally vulnerable women who are serving mandatory sentences of 6 to 8 years for drug possession and trafficking. Our mixed methodology of survey data, personal interviews, and secondary source materials uncovers some disturbing human rights violations and documents the challenges these incarcerated women face as mothers and inmates.

Violence And Collective Conflict Experiences, Carlos Gadea

Societies Without Borders

Emergent collective mobilizations, urban riots, and spontaneous concentrations seem to show that social conflicts and the violence that often accompanies them have different dimensions in the contemporary world. The present work analyzes the nexus between violence and collective conflict experiences. Taking into account discussions of violence, conflict, collective action and the “definition of a situation,” I assess the degree to which violence is an important ingredient in the construction of the social meaning of contemporary collective actions.

Book Review Of Capitalist Networks And Social Power In Australia And New Zealand, Basak Ozaral

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of Democracy Works: Joining Theory And Action To Foster Global Change, Meredith Katz

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of The Endgame Of Globalization, Tugrul Keskin

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Expressions Of Human Rights: You Live: A Poem Of Love, Rodney Coates

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

The Contested Terrains Of Public Sociology: Theoretical And Practical Lessons From The Movement To Defend Public Housing In Pre- And Post-Katrina New Orleans, John Arena

Societies Without Borders

In this article I argue professional and policy sociology are antagonistic, rather than compatible with the theory and practice of a critical, organic, public sociology in de- fense of human rights and social justice. Drawing upon my graduate school experi- ence and relationship with New Orleans public housing movement, I show how prac- ticing public sociology in various terrains required unmasking and opposing the apo- litical pretenses of professional sociology and the agenda-setting of neoliberal govern- ment and corporate patrons of policy sociology. The current global economic crisis and assault on university budgets is strengthening the policy and professional sociolo- …

Teaching And Speaking To Social Change: A Digital Storytelling Approach Addressing Access To Higher Education, Aline C. Gubrium, Timothy Scott

Societies Without Borders

In this article, we briefly review neoliberal economic rationales used to inform educa- tional reforms, juxtaposed with the function of public education as a public good. We then introduce a new participatory visual method grounded in a human rights educa- tion approach, digital storytelling. Digital storytelling can serve triple purposes: as a data collection technique used by social researchers to critically assess participants’ experiences as they are affected by education reforms, as a collaborative method for political organizing, and as a tactic for building awareness to address these reforms. We review a digital storytelling workshop as it was carried out …

Designing Rights-Based School Feeding Programs, George Kent

Societies Without Borders

Rights-based school feeding programs could serve as a basis for experiential learning about rights, and through that means, improve both nutritional and educational out- comes. Rights-based school feeding programs would give students the means to act to ensure that specific standards are met. Rights are supposed to be enforceable claims to specific goods or services. There must be some sort of institutional authority to which rights-holders whose claims are not satisfied can appeal to have the situation correct- ed. Enforceability means that the duty bearers, those who are to fulfil rights/ entitlements, must be obligated to do so, and they …

Notes From The Field: Development And Daughters: Changing Familial Roles In Rural Bangladesh, Roslyn S. Fraser

Societies Without Borders

The now-globalized economy has had far-reaching effects on family structure and gender roles around the world. One striking aspect of globalization is the rapid expan- sion of a global labor market resulting in large waves of labor migration. The effects of labor out-migration of men from rural Bangladesh have not yet been well docu- mented, but preliminary data show that these effects may be surprising and profound. The absence of men in many rural Bangladeshi families necessitates a change in how women‟s roles are perceived and experienced. As men leave for work, women may be buffering the effects of economic …

Book Review Of Advocating Dignity: Human Rights Mobilizations In Global Politics, Delia Popescu

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Women, Peace And Security: An Analysis Of The National Action Plans Developed In Response To Un Security Council Resolution 1325, Gumru, Jan Marie Fritz

Societies Without Borders

This research analyzes the 11 national action plans that were adopted between June 2005 and October 2008 as a response to the United Nations Security Council's Resolution 1325. Resolution 1325, one of the most important UN resolutions within the field of peace and security, was adopted unanimously on 31 October 2000. The resolution highlights the consequences of violent conflict on women and girls and the important role of women in peacebuilding and post-conflict processes. In 2002 and again in 2004, UN member states were invited to prepare national action plans in order to take strong steps towards the implementation of …

Japan's Contribution To Global Constitutionalism, Kimijima

Societies Without Borders

In this paper I want to approach the theme of “globalization and Japan” from the standpoint of constitutional studies. Constitutions and constitutionalism are important means of reining in political power, and in the modern sovereign state system, constitutions and constitutionalism have been conceived on the level of single states. However, as many scholars have observed, one can see the global spread of power in, for example, the worldwide deployment of the US military using overseas bases throughout the world, and the worldwide activities of transnational corporations based in the US, Europe, and Japan. In sum, this is the global spread …

Beyond Collapse: Reclaiming Rationality And Scientific Method From The Global Disorder, Mcmurtry

Societies Without Borders

This analysis explains why the currently instituted value-sets of “rationality” and “scientific method” select for unforeseen consequences of economic, social and ecological system collapse. Laying bare the era's unifying paradigm of “rational choice” across theory (e.g., game theory, contractarianism, prisoner's dilemma) and practice (global business, geostrategic analysis, armed war and mass-media sport), the analysis exposes the systematic disconnection of rationality and its lead vector of scientific method from the needs and capacities of life-systems. Only if rational and scientific standards are grounded in life-enabling purpose and means consistent with it, the argument shows, can they be made coherent with life …

Domestic Violence And Women's Rights In Nigeria, Bazza

Societies Without Borders

Studies have shown that globally domestic violence accounts for nearly one quarter of all recorded crimes. Women have been subjected to various forms of violence ranging from rape, battering, trafficking and even murder. Although the degree differs from society to society, the occurrence has profound and destructive consequences including psychological, physical, emotional and social disorders. The fact that domestic violence prevails across all strata of the Nigerian society is no longer debatable. Despite the spirited efforts made by the world bodies such as the United Nations (e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights) …

From Rights To Justice: Women Of Color Changing The Face Of Us Reproductive Rights Organizing, Luna

Societies Without Borders

The history of government racism is part of the explanation of the limited contemporary use of human rights in the US. This history poses a challenge to mainstream organizations' ability to organize using human rights, yet some contemporary organizations embrace these concepts that are in full use within international settings. This article focuses on the emergent reproductive justice movement, a women of color-based social movement which complicates the narrow focus on protection of legislation such as Roe v. Wade by integrating human rights analysis of domestic social problems. In doing so, this paper expands understanding of uses of human rights …

Book Review Of Contract And Domination & The Darker Nations: A People's History Of The Third World, Hiers

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews the books "Contract and Domination," by Carol Pateman and Charles Mills and "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World," by Vijay Prashad.

Societies Without Borders: Human Rights & The Social Sciences, Welcome To Farshad Araghi - A Longer Title - More Issues Per Volume, Blau, Farshad Araghi

Societies Without Borders

The article introduces Professor Farshad Araghi as co-editor and offers information on the contents of the journal. Araghi is the chair of the Department of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University and writes about global sociology, social theory, sociology of agriculture and human displacement and world-historical analysis. He received numerous awards including the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. The journal is a multidisciplinary incorporating the universality and borderlessness of human rights as a main theme.

Exorcising The Specter Of Development: Human Rights In The 21st Century, Frezzo, Farshad Araghi

Societies Without Borders

With the commodification of rights as private privileges under neoliberal capitalism, movements in the Global South have begun to reinterpret the human rights canon. Cosmopolitan notions of human rights have spread from the Global South only to face parochial resistance from postmodern intellectuals and neoliberal power structures in the Global North. In advancing a vision of “cosmopolitanism from below” as an antidote to neoliberalism, these alliances have articulated their demands in terms of economic and social rights. In the process, they have ruptured the connection - crucial to US hegemony from the late 1940s through the early 1970s - between …

'Doing Religion' Overseas: The Characteristics And Functions Of Ghanaian Immigrant Churches In Toronto, Canada, Mensah

Societies Without Borders

While the importance of immigrants' transnational economic activities is readily acknowledged, the cultural factors that facilitate their initiation and sustenance of memberships in multiple locations have been overlooked. It is this lacuna that the present study addresses, using Ghanaian immigrant churches in Toronto as a case study. The paper examines how Ghanaian immigrant churches were founded; how they are organized; and the kinds of social services they provide. While the churches facilitate the settlement of Ghanaian immigrants, through the provision of social services, they seem to, inadvertently, undermine their eventual integration into the broader Canadian society.

Discouragement Amongst Ageing Workers In Malta Within An Eu Context, Brown, Michael Briguglio

Societies Without Borders

This paper investigates perceptions of unemployed ageing workers in Malta, in relation to disadvantages in the labour market and to discouragement with regard to chances of finding stable employment. The principal results are that educational level and number of breadwinners in one's household significantly affect perceptions; and that there are cases manifesting the 'discouraged worker effect', even though they are still registering to find employment. This challenges traditional views arguing that this effect is present only among individuals who already gave up the job search completely. This paper concludes that the struggle for productive employment requires mass representation of trade …

Decent Society Index: A Research Note, Judith, Jenniffer Santos, Chelsea Sessoms

Societies Without Borders

People everywhere are discovering that their own views about a decent society are widely shared around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights already made this clear in 1948 by referring to “a common understanding” of rights and freedoms and a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” A challenge for social scientists is to develop dimensions for an index that measures variation in the extent to which societies are decent. Such an index would be useful in research for comparative and analytical purposes, and it could …

Book Review Of A Brief History Of Neoliberalism, Keskin

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews the book "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," by David Harvey.