Douglass Dialogues: Are Human Rights Dead? Or, Were They Ever Alive?
Douglass Dialogues: Are Human Rights Dead? Or, Were They Ever Alive?
“There are such things in the world as human rights. They rest upon no conventional foundation, but are eternal, universal and indestructible.”
Inspired by this line in the 1867 lecture “Composite Nation” by Frederick Douglass, the next event in the Douglass Dialogues series provocatively asks us to consider the universality and indestructibility of human rights.
While it is endearing to subscribe to a universal understanding and respect for humanity, history tells us that human dignity has been a contested reality. Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not been able to check state actors from committing countless atrocities to humankind. What then do we make of human rights as a concept, universal aspiration and political project? How do we reconcile human rights with humanitarianism? In the spirit of Frederick Douglass’ struggle to bring moral clarity to the sins and stains of the American project, we come together to find meaning in humanity in our own times.
The event will feature scholar and activist Loretta Ross, associate professor of the study of women and gender at Smith College, whose resume includes a long commitment to reproductive justice and countering white supremacy. Ross worked at the first rape crisis center in the country in the late 1970s, fought hate groups such as the KKK in the 1990s and founded SisterSong, a women of color reproductive justice collective, which defines reproductive justice as a human right.
Ross will be in dialogue with UMD faculty Karin Rosemblatt, professor of history, whose scholarship focuses on Latin America and the transnational study of gender, race, ethnicity, and class and their relation to policymaking, and Ampson Hagan, assistant professor of anthropology, a medical anthropologist whose research focuses on humanitarianism, rescue, and unauthorized migration in the context of contemporary Niger. Moderated by Erin Mosley, assistant professor of history, whose research examines the politics of history and memory after mass violence and truth, justice, and reconciliation efforts, they will question and explore the universality of human rights, with respect to women and populations in the Global South.
Speakers:
- Loretta Ross, Women and Gender Studies, Smith College
- Karin Rosemblatt, History, UMD
- Ampson Hagan, Anthropology, UMD
Moderator:
- Erin Mosely, History, UMD
Requesting Disability Accommodations:
Please contact the Douglass Center at douglass-center@umd.edu at least one week prior to the event to request disability accommodations. In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations.