Students Participate in Climate Justice Training
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By Elizabeth Allen (Trinity Arts & Sciences, ’20), Brandon Hunter (PhD Candidate, Environmental Engineering), and Laura Landes (MA Student, Nicholas School of the Environment)
On January 11 over a hundred Duke students interested in environmental and social justice issues gathered at the Nicholas School of the Environment for a Climate Justice Training hosted by The Climate Reality Project in collaboration with Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE), the Duke Human Rights Center@FHI, and other local partner organizations. This intersectional training focused on making clear links between environmental and social injustices as well as giving students the tools to work on these issues locally.
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Announcing the 2018 Mendez Book Award Winner
Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno
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There Are No Dead Here
is a deep dive into key human rights cases that exposed the murderous nexus between right-wing paramilitaries, drug lords, and Colombia’s military and political establishment. Through dogged reporting, in part as a Human Rights Watch researcher, McFarland unravels the links that led to the murders of Colombian rights investigators by powerful interests that reached as high as military leadership and even the Colombian presidency.
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The Right to the City
NUCHR’s Annual Conference on Human Rights
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By Olivia Simpson (Trinity Arts & Sciences ’20)
Each year, the Northwestern University Community for Human Rights (NUCHR) brings students from universities around the country together around a topic tangential to human rights. This year, the theme “The Right to the City: Mapping Human Rights in an Urban Landscape” explored urban design and development. My fundamental belief in the potential of cities with their dense populations and tangles of infrastructure to be productive, dramatic forces in the lives of their residents was what drew me to the conference in the first place.
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Students Reflect on a Semester Participating
in the ACRE Collaboration
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Learning About Racial Equity
by Laura Landes, MA Student, Nicholas School for the Environment
In Lowndes County, Alabama, there is a lack of municipal wastewater treatment facilities that reflects a pattern of racial and environmental injustice that has been present in that area for a long time. Most parts of the county are rural and depend on septic tanks, which are expensive, and often break down or don’t work at all due to the makeup of the soil in that area. Lowndes County exists in the “black belt” region of the American South, an area mostly in Alabama and Mississippi that got its name from the color of the dark, fertile soil that exists there. Many residents of Lowndes County do not live there by accident; their ancestors were brought to the black belt against their will and enslaved, forced to work as unpaid labor.
Investigating the Intersection of Infrastructure and Environmental Justice in Lowndes County, AL
By Onuoha Odim, Duke Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, ’20
Growing up in a dilapidated two bedroom apartment with my four siblings and mother in North Dallas, we faced infrastructure issues that posed significant health risks to our lives. Every winter our faucet water changed colors because of frozen drainage that would cause residue backup forcing us to be unable to even brush our teeth with the contaminated water. Our old pots would be home to maggots because my mom had her hands full juggling multiple jobs and taking nursing classes while supporting her kids to be able to consistently clean the dishes, and my siblings and I were too young to effectively do the dishes ourselves.
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Meet Human Rights Certificate Student
Elina Rodriguez
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This interview was conducted over email with Elina Rodriguez, a senior undergraduate student enrolled in the Human Rights Certificate Program, completing a major in English at UNC through the Robertson Scholars program, by Miranda Gershoni.
Miranda Gershoni (MG):
Why did you decide to pursue the human rights certificate?
Elina Rodriguez (ER):
I became interested in Human Rights the more I learned about prison abolition and the prisoners’ rights movement. I realized that understanding the history and legacy of the human rights movement is so critical in defending the rights and dignity of prisoners and others who have been abandoned by the American legal system.
Read the full interview with Elina
here
.
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Meet Human Rights Certificate Student
Likhitha Butchireddygari
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This interview was conducted over email with
Likhitha Butchireddygari
,
a senior undergraduate student enrolled in the Human Rights Certificate Program, completing a Program II major in Digital Democracy and Data, by Miranda Gershoni.
Miranda Gershoni (MG):
Why did you decide to pursue the human rights certificate?
Likhitha Butchireddygari (LB):
I wanted to learn more about global rights dilemmas as they occur in our local communities.
This certificate most directly addresses the world’s greatest problems — dissecting them, critically examining them, and learning how to address them.
Read the full interview with Likhitha
here
.
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DukeImmerse Opportunities
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Rights & Identities in the Americas: Human Rights, Indigenous People and Contemporary Challenges
Fall 2019
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Rights & Identities in the Americas takes an interdisciplinary, integrated look at the history of human rights in the Americas, indigenous rights through the lens of language and culture, and connections between the state, family, gender and immigration.
Applications are currently being accepted for Fall 2019!
Download the application
and submit the completed application to Robin Kirk (
rights@duke.edu
). Students are accepted on a rolling basis until 5pm on Thursday, March 21st, or until the Fall 2019 cohort is full. Contact Robin Kirk (
rights@duke.edu
) for more information.
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'Race', Science & Power: Contextualizing Durham's Hidden Histories
Fall 2019
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Researching 'race' through the intersection of biology, anthropology, education, and history. The cluster investigates ‘race’ as both a lived experience and an institutionalized system of oppression, and considers how racial categories have been used to empower, create, and negotiate alliances within structures of power.
Acceptance is on a rolling basis until Thursday, March 21st or until the Fall 2019 cohort is full. (Registration is complete with the professors' confirmation.)
Download the application
and submit the completed form to Professor Márcia Rego,
marcia.rego@duke.edu
.
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The Direct Action & Research Training (DART) Center
will hold an online information session on
Wednesday, January 30 at 7 pm eastern
to discuss careers in community organizing with Duke students and alumni interested in uniting congregations and
working for social, economic and racial justice.
RSVP at
www.thedartcenter.org/Duke
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Apply for a Human Rights Summer Research Grant!
Currently enrolled Duke undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for summer research funding from the Duke Human Rights Center@FHI. The goals of the grant are to strengthen global research opportunities for students interested in developing, implementing and working in human rights. Special consideration is given to students whose research contributes to a senior thesis or project, or towards the research component for the Capstone for the
Human Rights Certificate
. Grants are available of up to $2,000.
Applications are due March 1, 2019.
Learn more
here
.
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The International Institute for
Genocide and Human Rights Studies
August 4-16 2019
This two-week course provides participants with the intellectual framework for understanding the numerous, complex and often emotional issues related to genocide. An examination of several major cases of genocide provides the foundation for comparative analysis, along with the exploration of selected broad themes. The specific case studies and special themes may vary from year to year. More info
here
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Job & Internship Opportunities with Don't Waste Durham
Environmental Marketing Intern for GreenToGo
Don’t Waste Durham is looking for someone to assist with marketing and promotion of
GreenToGo
, a reusable takeout container service. This internship provides an opportunity to increase skills in grassroots marketing/organizing, social media strategy/implementation, PR strategy/implementation, and working on a team of dedicated volunteers working to change the world. The ideal candidate has an interest in sustainable business practices and making a positive environmental impact on the world, and demonstrates and outgoing personality and go-get-em attitude. More info
here
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What I Left and What I Brought by artist Renzo Ortega
Wednesday, January 30, 6:30 PM
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In this thoughtful self-portrait, artist
Renzo Ortega
creates a site-specific installation at the Power Plant Gallery reacting to the political conflicts that drove him from his native country of Perú. By exploring what he left and what he brought, Ortega examines his life in Perú, and as an immigrant in the United States. Installed over the course of three weeks, patrons to the Power Plant Gallery will bear witness to Ortega’s labor in this multi-dimensional installation reflecting on current times and issues of displacement and immigration.
More info
here
.
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Human Rights in Practice
Decriminalizing Homosexuality in India: Love, Law, and Colonialism
Wednesday January 30, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
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On Sept. 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the “criminalisation of consensual conduct between adults of the same sex” is unconstitutional. Duke Law presents a panel discussion on the case and LGBTI rights in India featuring Vardhman Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy, and Arundhati Katju, moderated by Prof. Laurence Helfer. More info
here
.
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The Duke Human Rights Center @ the Franklin Humanities Institute brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, staff and students to promote new understandings about global human rights issues.
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