An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Human Rights Discourse

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

Human rights have been a flashpoint in relations between the U.S. and other nations. Many scholars of human rights have traditionally used the phrase human rights regime to refer to a set of norms and procedures that have been formalized and codified in international law. But the codification of universal human rights has been far more contested in local contexts, where concepts of rights are contingent upon widely ranging historical, cultural, and political economic experiences. This project explores how different notions of human rights have emerged and have been debated, often in ways that might seem paradoxical or counterintuitive. Immigration policy and diplomatic practice could benefit from the improved understanding of these contexts that this project will afford. This project would also broaden the participation of a historically underrepresented group in the sciences. Dr. Marvin Sterling of Indiana University will explore the factors that influence the discourse and practice of human rights. With focus on the Jamaican case, the investigator frames the study as a first systematic effort to identify specific commonalities in the postcolonial experience, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations, that shape or have resulted from human rights debates in these societies. The project also aims to understand how locally contextual interpretations of rights have been formed through transnational engagements. Methods of data collection during this six-month project include gathering archival data with the aim of historicizing discourses of human rights, interviewing the members and observing the activities of local human rights groups, and a content analysis of national and international media. The project would contribute to advancing anthropological theories of human rights, particularly within the subfields of legal and political anthropology. Specifically, the project explores the regime of human rights as something constituted by historically, economically, and culturally specific notions of citizenship, freedom, and autonomy.