580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104
Key research themes
1. How do anthropologists conceptualize and ethnographically engage with human rights across diverse cultural contexts?
This theme focuses on anthropological perspectives and methodologies in understanding human rights as culturally embedded practices, contested norms, and lived realities rather than merely universal legal principles. It explores the tensions between universalist human rights discourses and local cultural specificities, investigating how rights claims are interpreted, enacted, and negotiated on the ground. This approach is central to anthropology’s role in revealing the complexities, ambiguities, and moral dilemmas inherent in human rights advocacy and implementation.
Key finding: This paper provides a conceptual foundation for anthropological inquiry into human rights, emphasizing that while human rights assert universal claims, their practical outcomes are local, temporally limited, and culturally... Read more
Key finding: Through ethnographic research in an institution for HIV-positive marginalized individuals in Brazil, the study reveals how the production of silence functions as a form of exclusion and dehumanization, impeding rights... Read more
Key finding: This work critically reflects on anthropology’s ambiguous relationship with human rights, emphasizing anthropologists’ dual commitments to cultural difference and universalist interventions. It documents how human rights can... Read more
2. What methodological challenges and innovations characterize interdisciplinary human rights research, particularly incorporating anthropological perspectives?
This theme interrogates the research methods and epistemological considerations central to studying human rights as a complex, cross-disciplinary subject. It addresses critiques of methodological 'sloppiness' in human rights research, the distinctiveness of legal knowledge versus anthropological insight, and the need for rigorous, reflective methodologies that encompass qualitative ethnography, legal analysis, and interdisciplinary tools. Such inquiry is crucial for producing robust, context-sensitive understandings of human rights in practice.
Key finding: This volume establishes a clear distinction between methodology, methods, and tools in human rights research, highlighting growing methodological awareness as key to advancing the field. It critiques the normative bias and... Read more
Key finding: Drawing on ethnographic engagement with skeptical human rights lawyers, this article reveals the 'iron cage' of legal instrumentalism that constrains both anthropologists and legal professionals. It argues that... Read more
Key finding: Although primarily a politico-legal analysis, this text situates human rights within evolving philosophical and historical paradigms, underscoring the importance of precise methodological clarity when tracing rights... Read more
3. How do cultural translation and local appropriations mediate the global diffusion and contestation of human rights norms, especially regarding indigeneity and gender-based violence?
This theme delves into the ethnographically grounded study of how international human rights norms are received, contested, and reinterpreted within diverse cultural contexts, with particular attention to indigenous peoples and gendered violence. It investigates the tensions between rights as universal legal claims and the plural socio-cultural realities in which rights advocacy occurs, revealing the processes of cultural translation, resistance, and negotiation.
Key finding: This comparative historical analysis reveals how human rights ideology introduced by international mechanisms is complexly ‘translated’ and customized within Western Pacific cultural contexts. It demonstrates how indigenous... Read more
Key finding: This article identifies a critical shift from territorially bounded state accountability for human rights to a more fluid subject-based approach recognizing corporate actors’ extraterritorial obligations. It analyzes how... Read more
Key finding: Focusing on the interface between indigenous rights and cultural politics, this work details how anthropological insights into cultural identity and social organization are essential for understanding indigenous peoples’... Read more
Key finding: This historical and anthropological review tracks the evolution of cultural rights as an integral dimension of human rights discourse, highlighting persistent challenges in reconciling universal human rights with culturally... Read more