Human Interactions and Normative Innovation (HI-NORM)

The Tri-Campus research cluster on Human Interactions and Normative Innovation (HI-NORM) is an ongoing project that includes faculty and graduate students from all three campuses of the University of Washington and a broad variety of departments and disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences, to the law school, and Evans School of Public Affairs. Research includes both historical and contemporary approaches to issues of human rights and to the process of normative innovation that is often catalyzed by interactions across boundaries.

In the past, the cluster has organized study groups and convened workshops on research by UW members; has invited highly regarded scholars to UW to share their research; and has developed an ongoing relationship with the Cluster of Excellence on the Formation of Normative Orders at the University of Frankfurt in Germany. In May 2012 at the Simpson Center, HI-NORM organized and hosted a conference on the topic of “Cosmopolitan Rights and Responsibilities.” For that conference, we were joined by five faculty and graduate students from the University of Frankfurt. This year’s conference will be held in May 2013.

2012-13 events and activities include:           

WINTER QUARTER 2013              

• A panel on the issue of male and female circumcision and human rights, organized by Michael Rosenthal (Philosophy)
• A new interdisciplinary course in on Issues of Global Justice (POL S 207/PHIL 207/VALUES 207), co-taught by instructors Bill Talbott (Philosophy), Michael Blake (Philosophy), and Jamie Mayerfeld (Political Science)

SPRING QUARTER 2013

• A lecture by Melissa Williams (Political Science, University of Toronto), founding Director of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto, on global democracy.  (Friday, April 12, 2013)
• A conference on the topic “Human Rights, Cosmopolitanism, and (Post-Secular) Religion,” hosted by The Cluster of Excellence on the Formation of Normative Orders at the University of Frankfurt in May 2013. A call for papers will be sent out in October.   

FALL QUARTER 2013

• Oct. 23-25, 2013 –Seyla Benhabib (Political Science and Philosophy, Yale University) will visit the UW campus and deliver a Walker Ames Lecture.