Category Archives: New Resources

New Resources

eBooks on Human Rights topics

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Hi all,

Besides acquiring print books, the UConn Libraries is acquiring many ebooks that can be accessed through the HOMER catalog, or from the main page by searching the “Everything @ UConn” and the “Books and Media Worldwide” tabs’ search boxes. The two major distributors where we acquire books from are eBrary and EBL. They do have different interfaces and policy regarding printing pages or how many people can “check out” a digital copy. Sometimes only one person can view an ebook, sometimes multiple users can view an ebook. Offhand I can’t tell you which ebook follows one rule or the other rule–it really depends on the publisher, who decides what type of license is granting to the distributor. So feel free to explore this products and if you have problems or question do let us know. In addition, the links bellow my require you to use your netid and password before accessing the books. Finally, I do recommend that you create an account in both EBL and Ebrary (which are free) to keep track not only of what ebooks you are reading but also to save annotations you may want to do as you are reading them.

Here is a little sample of what we have acquired this academic year. eBooks purchases were based on faculty and students suggestions. Some books do have print counterparts but other don’t. If you prefer a print copy do let us know.

Cordially,

Marisol Ramos
Librarian for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Latino Studies,
Spanish and Anthropology And Curator of Latin American and Caribbean Collections

eBooks

eBrary

EBL

Library Acquisitons for Human Rights and other news

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Hello everyone,

My name is Marisol Ramos and as many of you know me, I am the librarian for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinos Studies, Spanish and Anthropology and the Curator for Latin American & Caribbean Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. While we are waiting for the new Curator for Human Rights to be hired, I was asked to continue posting news about new acquisitions and any other news related for human rights. One of the biggest news is that we have moved the old human rights blog to a new web address, http://doddhumanrightsresearch.wordpress.com/So make sure to update your bookmarks.

For now, I just want to reassure you that we continue acquiring library materials to support human rights and that if you have an specific need for your classes or research, feel free to contact either Betsy Pittman or I with your requests. If you need library instructions, we are more than happy to help you connect with the right librarian at Homer Babbidge who can help you and your students to navigate our many library resources (both print and electronic). If you have suggestion for archival collections that we should be pursuing for human rights, please contact Betsy Pittman.

Now here is a small sampling of our latest acquisitions for human rights. If you have suggestions for new purchases please let me know!

Thanks,

Marisol Ramos
Curator for Latin American and Caribbean Collections
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center’s Archives & Special Collections
 
  • Machan, Tibor R. (c2011). Human rights and human liberties : a radical reconsideration of the American political tradition / Tibor R. Machan. , 2nd rev. ed. Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, Inc.
  • Liebenberg, Sandra.(2010). Socio-economic rights : adjudication under a transformative constitution / Sandra Liebenberg. Claremont [South Africa] : Juta/
  • Economic policy and human rights : holding governments to account.  (2011). Edited by Radhika Balakrishnan and Diane Elson. London ; New York : Zed.
  • Van Ham, Lane Vernon. (c2011). Common humanity : ritual, religion, and immigrant advocacy in Tucson, Arizona / Lane Van Ham. Tucson : University of Arizona Press.
  • Lee, Julian C. H. (2011). Policing sexuality : sex, society, and the state. Selangor, [Malaysia] : Strategic Information and Research Development Centre ; London ; New York : Zed Books.
  • Armaline, W. T., Glasberg, D. S., & Purkayastha, B. (2011). Human rights in our own backyard: Injustice and resistance in the United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Manea, E. (2011). The Arab State and women’s rights: The trap of authoritarian governance. New York: Routledge.
  • Sisk, T. D. (2011). Between terror and tolerance: Religious leaders, conflict, and peacemaking. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press.
  • Benhabib, S. (2011). Dignity in adversity: Human rights in troubled times. Cambridge, U.K: Polity Press.
  • Brysk, A., & Choi-Fitzpatrick, A. (2012). From human trafficking to human rights: Reframing contemporary slavery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Monshipouri, M. (2012). Terrorism, security, and human rights: Harnessing the rule of law. Boulder [Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  • Kelly, T. (2012). This side of silence: Human rights, torture, and the recognition of cruelty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Sikor, T., & Stahl, J. (2011). Forests and people: Property, governance, and human rights. Abingdon, Oxon: Earthscan.
  • Trindade, A. A. C. (2011). The access of individuals to international justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Bishop, C. A. (2012). Access to information as a human right. El Paso [Tex.: LFB Scholarly Pub.
  • Kamali, M. H. (2011). Citizenship and accountability of government: An Islamic perspective. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society.
  • Bergoffen, D. B. (2012). Contesting the politics of genocidal rape: Affirming the dignity of the vulnerable body. New York: Routledge.
  • Oette, L. (2011). Criminal law reform and transitional justice: Human rights perspectives for Sudan. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
  • Balakrishnan, R., & Elson, D. (2011). Economic policy and human rights: Holding governments to account. London: Zed Books.
  • McKenna, A. (2011). A human right to participate in the information society. New York: Hampton Press.
  • Sharma, P. (2011). The Human Rights Act and the assault on liberty: Rights and asylum in the UK. Nottingham, United Kingdom: Nottingham University Press.
  • Englund, H. (2011). Human rights and African airwaves: Mediating equality on the Chichewa radio. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Doswald-Beck, L., & Académie de droit international humanitaire et de droits humains a Geneve. (2011). Human rights in times of conflict and terrorism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Goodman, R., & Pegram, T. I. (2012). Human rights, state compliance, and social change: Assessing national human rights institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Otiocha, E. E. (2011). International human rights: The protection of the rights of women and female child in Africa : theory and practice. Lake Mary, FL: Vandeplas Pub.
  • Keith, L. C. (2011). Political repression: The role of courts and law. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Witte, J., & Green, M. C. (2012). Religion and human rights: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Almqvist, J., & Espósito, C. D. (2012). The role of courts in transitional justice: Voices from Latin America and Spain. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Farewells and New Additions

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As of June 30, I will be leaving my position as Curator for Human Rights Collections. As a result, this blog will be updated less frequently, though I am hoping that whoever replaces me will take it over.

But before I go, I wanted to mention a couple of newly available digital collections here at UConn:

For the past year, I’ve been interviewing activists about their political advocacy work on issues impacting the LGBTQ community, including second-parent adoption, civil union, marriage equality, and equal protection under the law for gender identity and expression.  These are all hugely important rights that set Connecticut apart from the vast majority of other states, which don’t allow LGBTQ citizens the same rights and protections as heterosexual citizens. Looking around the state, it didn’t seem that many libraries and archives were actively trying to document these very recent– and in some ways still ongoing– social movements.  And so, with support and encouragement from my institution, I set out to do so.

In 2010, the University of Connecticut Libraries began actively collecting documentation of activism around the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, and neighboring areas, and received donations of research files and materials from Mia Farrow, Eric Reeves, and others.  It was Ms. Farrow’s vision to create an online documentation center of these materials so access would not be limited to only those who could travel to Connecticut. Working in consultation with Ms. Farrow, and also with Dr. Bridget Conley-Zilkic at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, the project was launched in June 2011.

The website contains information about the Sudan related archival collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn, as well as a research guide for Sudan, links to news sources, and advocacy and humanitarian organizations working in the region.  The project also includes an online gallery of digital photographs from Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic from various refugee and IDP camps.

According to the UNHCR, there are approximately 4.5 million internally displaced people in Sudan, and hundreds of thousands more in camps in neighboring countries.  There are just over 200 images in the collection, most of which were taken by the incredible Mia Farrow, who has devoted the past 7 years to using her voice and celebrity to raise awareness of the horrific violence in Darfur and neighboring areas, which tragically is ongoing to this day.  It has been my utter privilege to work with her this past year on the project, and I could not be more in awe of her tireless dedication to the people of Darfur.

All the best, and thanks for reading!

New Tactics in Human Rights Online Diaglog on “Monitoring Accountability for Human Rights,” May 18 to 24, 2011

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New Tactics and its featured resource practitioners will hold an on-line dialogue on Front Line Watchdogs: Monitoring accountability for human rights from May 18 to 24, 2011.

Front line watchdogs come in all shapes and sizes. They can be seen in courtrooms ensuring fair trials, accompanying threatened human rights defenders, holding vigil outside police stations to prevent torture, protecting election ballot results, testing for discrimination, monitoring development aid projects, investigating toxic waste from companies, etc., etc. While government bodies and corporations are often expected to monitor and regulate themselves, self-regulation does not always successfully uphold rights. Front line watchdogs take on this important citizen role of holding communities, government and corporations accountable.

Watchdog monitoring provides an opportunity to analyze, understand and influence abusive systems of power and to engage community members in human rights work.

In this dialogue, we will explore successful front line watchdog tactics, discuss lessons learned, challenges and opportunities for practitioners to adapt these tactics for their own issues and communities.

For information on how to participate, visit: http://www.newtactics.org/en/dialogue/front-line-watchdogs

New Source for Info on Human Rights Books

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The editors of the “New Books Network” (http://newbooksnetwork.com) are seeking one or more hosts for a new channel, “New Books in Human Rights” (http://newbooksinhumanrights.com). The channel will feature regular podcast interviews with authors of new books on human rights, conflict resolution, genocide studies, and peace studies.

The “New Books Network” is a not-for-profit consortium of academic podcasts aimed at disseminating discipline-specific information about new books to wide audiences.

Think Tank Working Papers

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In addition to using the library’s subscription databases such as CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online), to find white papers and publications from think tanks and NGOs, there are a number of good websites to look at as well:

WorldPress (not to be confused with wordpress!) has a searchable library of international NGOs and think tanks, listed alphabetically:

Here are a few examples:

FRIDE is a think tank based in Madrid that aims to provide the best and most innovative thinking on Europe’s role in the international arena. It strives to break new ground in its core research interests of peace and security, human rights, democracy promotion, and development and humanitarian aid, and mould debate in governmental and non-governmental bodies through rigorous analysis, rooted in the values of justice, equality and democracy.

FRIDE’s working papers:

 

International Development Research Center

IDRC is a Canadian Crown corporation that works in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies.

IDRC Working Papers

 

Harvard Kennedy School of Government Faculty Working Paper Series

Faculty working paper topics include human rights, advocacy, economics, international relations/globalization, security, conflict management, legal issues, and welfare, health care and social policy.

New Films in the Human Rights Film Collection

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The Human Rights Film Collection at Babbidge Library has over 470 films in it.   Here are a few of the most recent additions to the collection:

12.511, Caso Rosendo Radilla: Herida Abierta de la Guerra Social en México.  Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH): WITNESS, c2008.  [English Subtitles]  Call number: HV6322.3 .C37 2008

“In 1974, Rosendo Radilla Pacheco disappeared at a military checkpoint in southern Mexico. As a prominent activist and mayor, Rosendo fought for access to health and education in Atoyac, in the state of Guerrero–a region historically plagued by hardship and neglected by authorities.Decades later, Radilla’s unresolved case reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as a emblematic example of government activities during the Dirty War–a period when the autoritarian regimes of the 1960s and 1970’s employed miltary tactics to crush opposition movements. Now Mexico faces charges of crimes against humanity. The video tells the stories of Radilla’s daughter, Tita, and other families who have disappeared relatives. They show us how seeking the truth in the past strengthens justice in the future.”

Between Two Fires: Torture and Displacement in Northern Uganda.  WITNESS and Human Rights Focus, 2006.  Call number: JC599.U36 B48 2006

Human Rights in Burma.  Burma Issues and Witness, 2007.  Call number:  JC599.B93 H863 2007

Rights on the line : vigilantes on the border / produced by American Friends Service Committee, ACLU, Witness ; writers and producers, Tamaryn Nelson, Ray Ybarra.  Call number:   JV6483 .R54 2005  disc.1-2

Bought & sold.   a Witness production in association with the Global Survival Network ; produced and directed by Gillian Caldwell.  Call number:   HQ281 .B68 1997

Rise: revolutionary women re-envisioning Afghanistan.   A Witness production in collaboration with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan ; written and produced by Ronit Avni.  Call number:  HQ1735.6 .R57 2002

The Drilling fields.  A Catma Films production for Channel Four ; producer, Poonam Sharma ; director, Glenn Ellis ; writer/researcher, Kay Bishop.  Call number:  DT515.45.O33 D75 2008

 Expelled.  A Witness production; written, produced and directed by Michael Granne.  Call number:  HD8039.S86 E89 2001

 Missing lives : disappearances and impunity in the North Caucasus.  A co-production of: Memorial & WITNESS.  Call number HV6433.C49 M566 2007

Crying sun : the impact of war in the mountains of Chechnya.  A co-production of: Memorial & WITNESS.  Call number DK511.C37 P63 2007

Human Rights Initiative Funding for 2010-2011

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The Human Rights Initiative at the University of Connecticut is seeking proposals for human rights events for the 2010-2011 academic year.

In the past, the Human Rights Initiative has funded speakers, films, workshops, art exhibits and theatrical productions. Applications will be accepted from university departments, faculty, student groups, institutes and cultural centers from all UConn campuses. The Human Rights Initiative is supported by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs.

Criteria For Funding Funding Available: Funds for UConn Human Rights Initiative: From Ideas to Action events will normally be limited to a maximum of $2,500.

Under exceptional circumstances, the committee may approve a higher amount depending upon the significance of the speaker or event.

Types of Events Eligible for Support: Funding is available to pay for speaker’s honoraria, speaker travel and meals, for group performances, round table discussions, programs, or promotional materials.

Who May Apply: Funding will be available to representatives of university departments, schools, colleges, student groups, institutes, and cultural centers.

Criteria For Selection: A faculty and student review committee will consider the following criteria when selecting what organizations will receive funding:

  • Clear focus on human rights
  • Creates, fosters and/or expands an interest in human rights
  • Contributes to the UConn Human Rights: From Ideas to Action as a whole, does not significantly duplicate another event, adds to a wide range of types of events
  • Quality of speaker or event
  • Interdisciplinary appeal
  • Appeal to students, faculty, and general public
  • Practical, feasible, well-planned event
  • Reasonable cost and proportional to the impact of event

The criteria and application for funding are both available electronically.

Application Deadline is March 31, 2010

Please contact Rachel Jackson at 860-486-5393 or via email at rachel.jackson@uconn.edu, if you have questions.

2009-2010 Recipients of the Human Rights Initiative Funding