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Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

The Futures of Human Rights: Moral, Legal, and Political Cultures

11th Annual Comparative Literature Conference

February 26–28, 2009

Human rights aspire to be uncontroversial moral claims, but they quickly become embroiled in politics when states or international institutions try to implement them. This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars from around the world to open a dialogue about the futures of human rights.

Speakers will address a range of issues, including torture, economic and social rights, rights and imperialism, media and the arts, transitional justice, children’s rights, the United Nations, rights and U.S. foreign policy, and philosophies of rights.

The conference is free and open to the public. Registration is required for those wishing to attend the refreshments and banquet.

Invited Speakers

  • Chiara Bottici, University of Florence, Philosophy
  • Lori Damrosch, Columbia University, Law
  • Costas Douzinas, University of London, Law
  • Attracta Ingram, University College Dublin, Politics and International Relations
  • Paul Kahn, Yale University, Law
  • John McGowan, University of North Carolina, English
  • Samuel Moyn, Columbia University, History
  • Bertram Ramcharan, United Nations
  • Daniel Rothenberg, DePaul University, Law
  • John Wallach, CUNY, Political Science

Preliminary Conference Program

All sessions will take place at the Clarion Hotel, Salon A, B, and C, with the exception of Lori Damrosch’s talk on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., which will take place in the Law School Auditorium.

Thursday, February 26

  • 9:00–9:45 a.m. Registration, Clarion Hotel, Salon A, B, C
  • 9:45 a.m. Opening of the Conference
    • Meili Steele, University of South Carolina
    • Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, College of Arts and Sciences
10:00–11:30 a.m. — Human Rights, Literature and the Arts
  • “André Breton and Martinique,” David Seaman, Georgia Southern
  • “Surrealism and Political Engagement,” Barbara Lekatsas, Hofstra University
  • “There’s No Stopping a Country Where the Truth Prevails: Narrating Human Rights in Veer-Zaara,” Jana Fedtke, University of South Carolina
  • “Terror(ism) as Bildung: Social Imaginaries and Human Rights in V for Vendetta,” Catharina Wuetig, University of South Carolina
  • “Of Memory, Forgiveness and Reconciliation: The TRC and John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth,” Bernard Oniwe, University of South Carolina
  • 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Lunch
  • 1:00–1:50 p.m. “Democracy and Virtue as Future Standards for Human Rights,” John Wallach, CUNY
  • 2:00–2:50 p.m. “Why Anticolonialism Was Not a Human Rights Movement,” Samuel Moyn, Columbia University
  • 3:30 p.m. Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture for 2009, “International Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court: Who Has the Final Word,” Lori Damrosch, Columbia University
    • Location: Law School Auditorium
  • 5:30 p.m. Happy Hour and Dinner, Hunter-Gatherer

Friday, February 27

  • 9:00–9:50 a.m. “Imagining Human Rights: Ideology or Utopia?” Chiara Bottici, University of Florence
  • 10:00–10:50 a.m. “Preventive Human Rights Strategies in a World of New Threats and Challenges,” Bertram Ramcharan, United Nations
  • 10:50 a.m. Coffee Break
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. — Panel: The Subject of Human Rights Discourse at the Limit of Law
  • “Sacred or Profane? The Biopolitics of Human Rights,” Penelope Pether, Villanova University
  • “Truth in Transition,” Erik Doxtader, University of South Carolina
  • “Dignity in the Liberal State,” Erin Daly, Widener University
  • “A Child-soldier or a Soldier-child, Same Difference: Kourouma’s Hyphens, Klein’s Narrative of a Child Analysis,” Mark Sanders, New York University
  • 12:30–2:00 p.m. Lunch
  • 2:00–2:50 p.m. “What Must We Believe in Order to Believe in Human Rights,” Attracta Ingram, University College Dublin
  • 3:00–3:50 p.m. “Terror, Torture and the Sovereign Imagination,” Paul Kahn, Yale University
  • 4:10–5:00 p.m. “Understanding Torture’s Logic: Lessons from a Large Scale Human Rights Documentation Project on Iraq Under Saddam Hussein,” Daniel Rothenberg, DePaul University
  • 7:00 p.m. Banquet at the Clarion

Saturday, February 28

  • 9:00–10:00 a.m. “Human Rights: A Pragmatist Approach,” John McGowan, University of North Carolina
  • 10:00–10:15 a.m. Coffee Break
10:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m. — Conceptual Dilemmas of Human Rights
  • “Localism and Voting Rights,” Michael Halberstam, Columbia University
  • “The Strength of a Weak Idea: Opposable Human Rights,” Jean-Claude Dupont, Collège de France
  • “What Are Children’s Rights, Indeed, If They Are Anything at All,” David Rosen, Fairleigh Dickinson University
  • “Social Imaginaries of Women’s Human Rights,” Laurie Naranch, Siena College
  • 12:30–2:00 p.m. Lunch
  • 2:00–3:00 p.m. “Human Rights and Empire,” Costas Douzinas, University of London
  • 3:00–3:15 p.m. Coffee Break
3:15–5:00 p.m. — The Politics of Human Rights
  • “The UN as an Obstacle to Preventing Genocide,” Allan Cooper, Otterbein College
  • “Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy,” Joe Renouard, The Citadel
  • “Heidegger and Human Rights,” Martin Woessner, CUNY
  • “Leo Strauss and Human Rights,” William Altman

Visitor Information

For those planning to attend the conference, the links below may be helpful:

Conference Hotel

Clarion Hotel
1615 Gervais St
Columbia, SC 29210

Phone: (803) 771-8711

Contact

If you have questions about conference registration, hotels, or any information on this website, email steelem@mailbox.sc.edu.

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