UConn Library
Human Rights Archives
If you haven’t already, stop by the Contemporary Arts Gallery at UConn for a brand new exhibition by the 2010 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Artist-in-Residence, Alfredo Jaar.
We wish to inform you that we didn’t know
On view March 24th – April 22, 2010
Hours and more information about the exhibit is available here.
There is a TON going on in March in terms of human rights events at UConn, so mark your calendars!
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Lecture and Booksigning by Sheryl WuDunn
March 3, 2010
7 PM
Jorgenson Auditorium
Join Sheryl WuDunn, best-selling co-author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. This thought-provoking and profoundly inspiring book highlights how renewed focus on the world’s women and girls can lead to the end of many of the world’s ills, and reveals the cruel reality faced by women who experience violence and oppression from around the world, including, but not limited to as sex trafficking and mass rape. As Tom Brokaw describes it, “Half the Sky is a passionate and persuasive plea to all of us to rise up and say ‘No more!’ to the 17th-century abuses to girls and women in the 21st-century world. This is a book that will pierce your heart and arouse your conscience. It is a powerful piece of journalism by two masters of the craft who are tireless in their pursuit of one of the most shameful conditions of our time.” Lecture followed by a book signing.
Women’s Empowerment: The National Agenda in Rwanda
Guest Speaker: Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya
Thursday, March 4
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Student Union Room 304
Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya is Rwanda’s Minister of Gender and Family Promotion. Prior to this appointment, she served as Rwanda’s Minister of Education; Minister of State in Charge of Higher Education; Minister of State in Charge of Primary and Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research; Administration Secretary in Charge of Hydrocarbons, Department of Energy in the Infrastructure’s Ministry, MININFRA (formerly MINITRAPE), Rwanda; and was Professor of Physical Chemistry in the Faculty of Education, Department of Biology & Chemistry at the National University of Rwanda.
Human Trafficking in the Post-Armenian Genocide Middle East and the Dilemmas of Modern Humanitarianism: A Lecture by Keith David Watenpaugh
Monday, March 15, 2010
4pm – 5:30pm
Storrs Campus
Babbidge Library, Class of ’47 Room
Drawn from Prof. Watenpaugh’s forthcoming book, Bread from Stone: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism, this talk examines the League of Nations’ efforts on behalf of displaced Armenian women and children in the early post-World War I period.
Screening of Michael Moore’s Sicko (part of the Human Rights in the USA film series)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
4pm – 5:30pm
Storrs Campus
Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium
Admission Fee: Free
The words “health care” and “comedy” aren’t usually found in the same sentence, but in Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s movie ‘SiCKO,’ they go together hand in (rubber) glove. While Moore’s ‘SiCKO’ follows the trailblazing path of previous hit films, the Oscar-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and all-time box-office documentary champ FAHRENHEIT 9/11, it is also something very different for Michael Moore. ‘SiCKO’ is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and sometimes cruel U.S. health care system, told from the vantage of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. More information available at: http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/events/hr_usa_film_series.htm
Art, Memory, and Human Rights: A Lecture by Marcelo Brodsky
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
4:30pm – 6pm
Storrs Campus
Dodd Center, Konover Auditorium
Esteemed Argentine photographer, visual artist, and human rights activist Marcelo Brodsky will present a public lecture on his recent work. His previous projects include Buena Memoria/Good Memory, a photographic tribute to family members and friends who “disappeared” during Argentina’s “Dirty War” (1976-1983); Nexo/Nexus, which draws together state terrorism and anti-Semitism in Argentina with the Holocaust; and Memory in Construction, a compilation of essays and artworks revolving around the problem of creating a Memory Museum for the victims of the “Dirty War.” Brodsky recently embarked on a new series called “Correspondencias.” More information (in English and Spanish) can be accessed on his website at http://www.marcelobrodsky.com
The Arts and Human Rights: Perspectives from Latin America
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
10am – 12pm
Storrs Campus
Student Union, Theater
This event features a roundtable discussion by two world famous Latin American artists, Alfredo Jaar from Chile and Marcelo Brodsky from Argentina.
Given that March 24 is the anniversary of the 1976 coup in Argentina that started the so-called “Dirty War,” Jaar and Brodsky will focus their comments on art and human rights around the topic of creating memorials to the victims of state terrorism. Jaar recently finished a commissioned piece for the brand new Museum of Memory in Santiago, Chile. This museum commemorates the thousands of lives lost to the brutality of the Pinochet dictatorship. Brodsky has been an active participant in the debates surrounding the transformation of the clandestine detention center at the Naval School of Mechanics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, operational during the “Dirty War,” into a similar memory museum. He has also edited a book on this subject.
And, don’t miss the opening of Alfredo Jaar’s new exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Gallery, and opening lecture on March 24, 2010:
Public Lecture: Alfredo Jaar
We wish to inform you that we didn’t know
March 24, 2010
4:00 PM Konover Auditorium / Dodd Center
University of Connecticut, Storrs
Exhibition: Alfredo Jaar
2010 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Artist-in-Residence
We wish to inform you that we didn’t know
On view March 24th – April 22, 2010
Reception March 24th at the Contemporary Art Galleries, 5:30 – 7:00 PM
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:
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.
In addition to the Human Rights Research Guide, there are several new research guides available on the UConn Libraries website:
For a complete listing of research guides, go to http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/
Please join the Human Rights Institute and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center for the February film for the 2009-2010 Human Rights Film Series: Human Rights in the USA.
Film: “Trouble the Water” (2008)
Directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
4:00 pm, Konover Auditorium
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
Trouble the Water, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award, revolves around the stories of Kimberly and Scott Roberts who captured the scene inside their attic as Hurricane Katrina raged outside their New Orleans home. Weaving together home video from the Roberts’ camera, news coverage of events as they unfolded in real time and footage they shot of the couple over the course of two years, the film constructs a portrait of a community that had been abandoned long before Katrina hit, and a husband and wife surviving not only deadly floodwaters, armed soldiers and bungling bureaucrats, but also their own past. Trouble the Water follows Kimberly and Scott’s journey through post- hurricane despair and chaos as they struggle to navigate the FEMA bureaucracy, resist eviction from temporary housing, cope with traumatic stress, and try to make a new start in Memphis.
The full film series schedule and downloadable poster is available on the Dodd Research Center’s website at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/events/hr_usa_film_series.htm
The Human Rights Film Collection at the University of Connecticut Libraries has reached 450 films!
Recent addions to the Human Rights Film Collection include:
Click here for a full listing of films.
And mark your calendars, the Human Rights in the USA film series resumes on Tuesday, February 9 at 4 PM with a screening of “Trouble the Water,” about a couple’s experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina.
The UConn Libraries are testing a new library catalog to suppliment our current catalog, HOMER. The beta catalog searches holdings in WorldCat, so you can quickly find materials held both in UConn Libraries and elsewhere. It also searches selected databases such as PubMed, ERIC, Articles First, and others.
Try it out, and let us know what you think! http://www.lib.uconn.edu/
Happy New Year, everyone! I have a bunch of updates about Homer Babbidge Library for the spring semester!
1. New Hours for Babbidge Library
Babbidge Library will now be open later on Fridays, and earlier on weekend mornings. The new hours are Monday-Thursday 7:30 am- 2 am; Friday 7:30 am- 10 pm; Saturday 10 am- 6 pm; Sunday 10 am- 2 am. The Dodd Center’s spring semester hours remain Monday-Friday, 10 am- 4 pm.
2. Kindle Borrowing Pilot Program
During the spring semester, the library will be testing a pilot program for students and faculty to check out Amazon Kindles from the iDesk at Babbidge Library for a 2 week loan period. A list of FAQs about the project is available at http://lib.uconn.edu/services/circulation/KindleFAQ.pdf.
3. Borrowing Laptops, Digital Cameras, Voice Recorders at the iDesk
Laptops are currently available for loan at the iDesk, and the library will be expanding this service to include digital cameras, digital voice recorders and other items in the coming weeks. Please contact the iDesk for more information: 860.486.2518.
4. Human Rights in the USA Film Series
The Human Rights in the USA film series continues with three films in Spring 2010: Trouble the Water, on February 9; Sicko on March 16, and The Garden on April 13. Descriptions of the films and the full schedule are available at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/events/hr_usa_film_series.htm.
5. RefWorks and Google Maps Mash-up Workshops
Sign up to attend an upcoming library workshop: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/instruction/workshop/
6. Streaming Media Services
Did you know? You can request to have film or other media available to students through your HuskyCT course site. If there are films that you use frequently in your classes that you would like to stream, we can look into acquiring the streaming rights to those films. Further information and the streaming video request form are available at the library’s streaming media guide at http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/streamingmedia.
7. New resource guides for Media/Video and Distance Learning
http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/mediaresources
http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/distancelearning
8. And finally, a new system for printing at Babbidge Library
Details to come soon…
Today is the last day of classes here at UConn, and I wanted to take a moment to offer some highlights from Fall 2009:
In October, the Human Rights Institute and UConn Law School co-hosted the Human Rights in the USA Conference. A volume with papers from the conference will be published, so if you weren’t able to attend, you can still read about pressing human rights issues in the US, such as health care, domestic violence, discrimination, and immigration policies, just to name a few!
In November, I attended and presented at “Remembering War, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations: Oral History, New Media and the Arts,” an interdisciplinary conference co-organized by the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) and the Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations project.
And, last night I attended a panel discussion on science and human rights, before seeing the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo, which will be playing through Saturday, December 12, at Jorgenson Theatre at the UConn campus.
Good luck with finals, and enjoy the winter break! I’ll be back in January with updates about what’s new for the spring semester.
Apologies for the lack of updates– the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity!
I recently wrote a guest post for the WITNESS blog entitled, “Building a Network for Human Rights Archives and Archivists”: http://archive.witness.org/2009/10/28/building-a-network-for-human-rights-archives-and-archivists/
“In recent years, archival institutions and organizations have become increasingly concerned with issues regarding human rights records and archival collections. Questions of access, privacy, politics, trust, and ensuring the safety of those documenting abuses and potentially controversial records all impact archivists working with human rights collections. Furthermore, the difficult subject matter contained in records of human rights abuses may require additional support for processing archivists who must confront images and accounts of atrocities daily.”
Read more at http://archive.witness.org/2009/10/28/building-a-network-for-human-rights-archives-and-archivists/
The WITNESS Hub blog posted an EXCELLENT blog post earlier this week with a spotlight on human rights archives: http://hub.witness.org/ArchivesHumanRights
From the post:
“October 27th marks World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, started in 2005 by UNESCO in order to help “build global awareness of the various issues at stake in preserving audiovisual heritage.” Not so long ago, this lack of awareness almost resulted in the loss of the last remaining video documentation of Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing. Deterioration and loss due to time, handling, improper storage, and poor documentation continue to threaten much of the world’s moving image heritage.
Among these irreplaceable materials are collections devoted to human rights. The recently released “Right to Truth” document from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights asserts that “the recognition that archives and archivists play a central role in undergirding human rights has grown over the last decade.” Human rights archives are increasingly playing a pivotal role in advocacy, restorative justice, historical memory, and struggles against impunity. And audiovisual documentation – which must be preserved – has become a key component of human rights campaigns.
Below you will find resources, tools, videos, and information on both human rights on archives and archiving. We hope it will be a resource for archivists, activists, or anyone seeking to learn more about these topics.”
Read more at http://hub.witness.org/ArchivesHumanRights