Critical Dates:

12:30 PM December 10, 2021 – K. Watenpaugh will receive the Edward O’Brien Award for Individual Achievement in Human Rights — joint celebration of International Human Rights Day – HRE USA/UCCHRE – Zoom

Noon – 6:00 PM January 21, 2022 – Second Annual Human Rights Research Symposium — International Center Board Room — Contact: Jeannette Money

Saturday March 12, 2022 First Annual Shant and Robin Garabedian Lecture in Genocide and Mass Atrocity — Mark Arax — location: TBD; contact Keith Watenpaugh

Human Rights Studies Program Update – Research/Public Scholarship/Teaching/Outreach (Fall 2021)

Across 2020-2021 The Interdepartmental Program in Human Rights Studies offered 17 undergraduate and one graduate course to nearly 1000 students during all three quarters and both Summer Sessions; 59 seniors graduated with a minor in Human Rights. The program sponsored or co-sponsored outreach and public events with Global Affairs, DHI, and NAS. With the support of UCHRI and DHI, it began a new public humanities/scholarship project “Human Rights for 21st-Century Californians” that will reform the state’s human rights curriculum. Its joint project with Global Affairs, the Article 26 Backpack received a $100000 grant to expand refugee higher education support into Sub-Saharan Africa.  Backpack was the at the center of the university’s response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and was used to safeguard the documents and research materials of over 400 Afghan human rights activists, students and education professionals.  The program currently has 10 program committee members appointed by the Dean of L&S and drawn from 7 departments; 15 faculty affiliates from 12 departments/schools and one full-time lecturer.

During 2021-2022 the program will offer 17 undergraduate courses and 1 graduate course with an anticipated enrollment of over 1100. Faculty will offer two new courses in Winter ‘22 including “Human Rights Tools” and “Human Rights and the Refugee,” the latter as part of a Quarter at Aggie Square program. It co-sponsored with DHI the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival and begins two annual named lectures, including the Shant and Robin Garabedian Lecture in Genocide and Mass Violence (March.) Program faculty have begun conversations with campus stakeholders, academic leadership and community partners about the creation of a BA in Human Rights Studies and an MA in Global Human Rights.

2021-2022 Program Committee

Keith David Watenpaugh (Human Rights Studies) Director
Marian Schlotterbeck, Chair, Designated Emphasis in Human Rights Studies

Michael Lazzara (Spanish)
Charles Walker (History)
Benjamin Weber (African American and African Studies)
Liza Grandia (Native American Studies)
Jessica Bisset Perea (Native American Studies)
Jeanette Money (Political Science)
Jeffrey Kahn (Anthropology)
Adam Zientek (History)

Lecturer: Amy Argenal

New Program Faculty Affiliates 2021

Ralph J. Hexter (Classics)
Ari Kelman (History)
Corrie Decker (History)
Shingirai L. Taodzera (African American and African Studies)
Ga Young Chung (UC Davis)

Caitlin Patler (Sociology) and Stacey Fahrenthold (History) will serve as affiliates while on fellowship leave.

New Program Research Affiliates

Stacey Greer (History Project at UC Davis)
Nikki Grey Rutamu (Executive Director, Article 26 Backpack)
Alina Rahman (Article 26 Backpack)
Rima Jamaleddine (Article 26 Backpack)

Fall ’21 Faculty Research/Public Scholarship and Awards (selected)

Jessica Bisset Perea (NAS) published Sound Relations: Native Ways of Doing Music History in Alaska (OUP, 2021); Charles Walker (HIS) spent the quarter as a distinguished research fellow at Princeton’s Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies and his recent graphic novel, Witness to the Age of Revolution: The Odyssey of Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru (OUP, 2019) won the PROSE award from The Association of American Publishers; Jeffrey Kahn (ANT) make significant interventions in the public sphere on the abuse of Haitian refugees in Slate and the Boston Review. Of additional note, Benjamin Weber (AAS) published a seminal article, “Anticarceral Internationalism: Rethinking Human Rights through the Imprisoned Black Radical Tradition” on the role of jailed African-American activists and global Black activism in the continuing creation and recreation of the Human Rights Idea in a special issue of the Journal of African American History.

Keith David Watenpaugh has been awarded the Edward O’Brien Award for Individual Achievement in Human Rights Education by Human Rights Educators, USA, the leading network of American human rights education professionals.  The citation notes:

A leading historian of human rights, Keith David Watenpaugh has led important educational initiatives at UC Davis and in collaboration with partners in the Middle East, to advance the human rights of refugee students, including the Article 26 Backpack Project, an award-winning, cloud-based mobility tool that empowers refugees to safely store, curate, and securely share important educational and training documents. His dedication to expanding human rights education inspired him to build the UC Davis Human Rights Studies Program, the largest program of its kind in the University of California system.

The award ceremony will take place on Friday, December 10 – International Human Rights Day.

Graduate Student Research Achievement

Of note, Lauren Peters (NAS, HMR DE) has completed a major element of her research into the human rights of the dead following the repatriation of her Aunt Sophia from the Carlisle Indian Boarding School to her home on the Bering Sea. This was an element of her Mellon Public Scholars Fellowship. Zofia Agnieszka Wlodarczyk (SOC, HMR DE) conducted participatory research at the Polish/Belarus border in support of refugees and displaced peoples.  She shared her research with the 120 students of HMR 134 “Human Rights” and published a short study, in conjunction with Joanna Regulska (Global Affairs/GSW) on anti-refugee policies adopted by the Polish government.

Undergraduate Achievement

Human Rights Studies minors drawn from several different fields were critical in formulating the universities response to the Afghan crisis.  Before school began in Fall, several ended their Summer Breaks early to help develop a multi-language social media campaign to build awareness and support for Backpack.  This resulted in Backpack being adopted by 100s of Afghans.  The Backpack Guides as they are called, have continued to work on the Rwanda project, as well as efforts to engage DACA and AB540 communities in the US with its use.

Read The Aggie Article: Article 26 Backpack from UC Davis allows students to safely store academic resources.