The Social Practice of Human Rights

Joel Pruce, University of Dayton

This volume is a record of the scholarship presented and discussed at the 2013 conference The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy, held Oct. 1-3, 2013, at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.

Abstract

The Social Practice of Human Rights bridges the conventional scholar-practitioner divide by focusing on the space in between. In capturing this cutting edge research program, the volume proposes a perspective that motivates critical self-reflection of the strategies that drive communities dedicated to the advocacy and implementation of human rights. The social practice of human rights takes place not in front of a judge, but in the streets and alleys, in the backrooms and out-of-the-way places where change occurs. Contributors to this volume investigate the contexts and efforts of activists and professionals devoted to promoting human rights norms. This research takes as its subject the organizations and movements that shoulder the burden of improving respect for human dignity—and through a constructive critique of these patterns and practices, scholarship can have a positive impact on the political world.