Monthly Archives: April 2008

“Human Rights Archives and Documentation: Transforming Ideas Into Practice” — Notes and Materials

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Notes and materials from the symposium, “Human Rights Archives and Documentation:  Transforming Ideas Into Practice,” hosted by the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut in March 2008, and co-sponsored by the Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research at Columbia University Libraries and the Center for Research Libraries Global Resources Network, are now available on the Dodd Center’s website.  Click here for minutes, notes, and outcomes. 

A recurring theme of the symposium was the need for increased communication and collaboration among archivists working with human rights materials.  To help meet this need, the University of Connecticut and symposium participants have initiated several projects:

  1. A listserv designed for archivists working with human rights collections
  2. An online Human Rights Archives Information Portal, which will include information about human rights archival collections, repositories currently collecting human rights materials, resources for organizations and governments working to preserve their own records, and a calendar of upcoming conferences events pertaining to human rights library and archival collections. 

The Human Rights Archives Listserv is open to anyone working with human rights collections, or interested in human rights and archives.  The listserv is hosted by the University of Connecticut.  The link to subscribe is here. 

 

Thulani Mabaso Talk and South African Archival Collections

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 The Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, The Human Rights Institute and The UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights invite you to join us for a talk by Thulani Mabaso. 

 

“Struggle and Forgiveness in the South African Anti-apartheid Movement”
A Conversation with Thulani Mabaso

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center Public Lounge
Monday, April 21, 2008
4:00 PM
Reception to Follow

 

Thulani Mabaso will speak on his experiences in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and his imprisonment at Robben Island. Mabaso was imprisoned in 1984 for sabotage and was a contemporary of Nelson Mandela, Patrick Chamusso, and other important figures jailed during the struggles against apartheid.  Originally from Vryheid in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, Mabaso currently resides in the township of Khayaletsha in Cape Town, and tells his story on a regular basis as a tour guide at the Robben Island Prison Museum.

For more information, please visit the Dodd Center’s website.

The Dodd Center has a number of archival collections relating to South Africa and the anti-apartheid movement.  They include:

African National Congress Collection (a small collection of memorabilia collected as part of the UConn ANC Partnership in 1999)

African National Congress Oral History Transcripts Collection (133 transcripts of oral history interviews with leading anti-apartheid activists conducted between 2000 and 2006.)

Impact Visuals Photographic Collection (photographs and slides which document the anti-apartheid movement and 1994 democratic elections in South Africa)

Tambo (Oliver) Papers (microfilm copies of the papers of anti-apartheid activist, Oliver Tambo; original documents are located at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa)

Xuma (A.B.) Papers (microfilm copies of the papers of anti-apartheid activist, A.B. Xuma; original documents are located at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa)

Student and Faculty Awards for Papers from ISA Conference

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The Human Rights Section of the International Studies Associaition (HR-ISA) is pleased to announce two paper awards for papers presented at the ISA annual conference in March 2008: a Graduate Student award and a Faculty/Professional award.

1. Steven C. Poe Graduate Student Paper Award

HR-ISA has named its Graduate Student Paper Award in honor of the late Steven C. Poe in recognition of his contributions in the field of human rights and support to graduate students. To be eligible for the award, the paper must be presented at the ISA annual meeting immediately preceding the deadline (not restricted to the human rights section panels), and must be original (not presented or published elsewhere) research in the field of human rights. Papers presented as posters are also eligible for the award. The award will be accompanied by $100 as well as a paid one-year membership in the Human Rights Section. In addition, the winner will receive $300 to subsidize travel to the following year’s ISA meeting (contingent upon provision of receipts). Papers may be nominated by panel chairs or other conference participants, and by authors. Papers should have been uploaded to the ISA website by the deadline. Alternatively, if you are submitting your own paper for consideration, please submit it electronically to the Chair of the committee, Clair Apodaca (Apodaca@fiu.edu) by 15 May.

Deadline for submission: May 15th.

Award committee: two at-large members of the executive committee and one additional member (non-executive committee) chosen by the section Chair.

The section would like to recognize the generous contribution made by the Journal of Human Rights and its editor, Richard Hiskes, in funding this award. The Journal of Human Rights is a Routledge/Taylor and Francis publication.

2. Faculty/Professional Best Paper Award

This award will be given to the best paper presented at the ISA annual conference 2008 by a faculty member (not restricted to rank) or professional or activist. Eligibility is limited to Human Rights Section-sponsored panels, and must be original (not presented or published elsewhere) research in the field of human rights. The award is accompanied by $100 as well as a paid one-year membership in the Human Rights Section. In addition, the winning paper will be forwarded to the Journal of Human Rights for special consideration for publication.

Papers may be nominated by panel chairs or other conference participants, and by authors. Papers should have been uploaded to the ISA website by the deadline. Alternatively, if you are submitting your own paper for consideration, please submit it electronically to the Chair of the committee, Daniel Whelan, (Whelan@hendrix.edu) by 15 May.

Deadline for submission: May 15th

Award committee: two at-large members of the executive committee and one additional member (non-executive committee) chosen by the section Chair.

Human Rights Awareness Week at UConn, April 14-19

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Idealists United, a human rights advocacy and awareness group founded at UConn, is hosting its second annual Human Rights Awareness Week with events on campus from April 14-19, 2008. 

Each day of the week has a different theme, and events range from lectures, to concerts, to films to rallies.

Monday, April 14:  Genocide Awareness
Tuesday, April 15:  The Environment
Wednesday, April 16:  Women’s Rights
Thursday, April 17:  Labor Rights
Friday, April 18:  Anti-Discrimination
Saturday, April 19:  Human Rights Music Festival

For a full schedule and information, see the Idealists United Homepage, or join their Facebook Group.

Human Rights Book News!

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Hi Everyone!  I promised that I would be better about updating and then promptly failed to update again.  Sorry about that.  Thanks for your patience. 

A couple of book related notes:

Congratulations to UConn faculty member, Serena Parekh, on her new book, Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity:  A Phenomenology of Human Rights.  It’s on order for the library, along with a bunch of other human rights titles, which I will post about when they come in. 

Also, George Kent’s important book, Freedom from Want:  The Human Right to Adequate Food, (Georgetown Press, 2005)  is now available free online, as well as in print.

The link to the pdf is here.

 

Update on (not) Updating

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My apologies for the lack of updates during the month of March.  This was not intentional, just a reflection of an extremely busy time in the semester.  I do plan to update much more regularly now, and with more information on archival materials, new books in Babbidge, and as always, human rights events and lectures happening on campus. 

Thanks as always for reading!  If you have any research questions, or suggestions for things to blog about in the world of human rights libraries and archives, definitely drop me a line.