Organized by Ron Krabill (Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UWB), Bruce Kochis (Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UWB), and Greg Mullins

Human Rights Public Culture will bring into focus research energies that are currently dispersed in three areas of activity: 1) new directions in the public humanities; 2) innovations in digital humanities; and 3) humanities research on human rights. A research cluster is needed at this time in order to share knowledge of current research and launch new collaborative work—not only across departments but also in coordination with human rights advocates, community organizations, and scholars in the wider community. The new research envisioned by this cluster has two particular aims: first, to generate more widely accessible means of disseminating research and to break down traditional barriers between the university and publics outside academia; and second, to stimulate broad conversations among diverse publics about the ethical, political, and cultural concerns that human rights frameworks address. In order to meet these goals, the research cluster plans to develop an interactive web-based resource for human rights education in future years. In order to lay a solid foundation for this digital resource, the scholars in the research cluster wish to devote the 2008-2009 academic year to a series of conversations that will solidify optimal research practices from the outset, generate a vibrant vision for the digital resource, and attract additional collaborators and funders. Simpson Center funding will support four meetings of the working group and one event for the wider community: a spring quarter lecture given by an internationally prominent scholar.