Intellectual Focus:
Dimensions of inequality and injustice, nationally and internationally, gender and sexual divisions, the political implications of emerging "human rights regimes", issues of human rights in a global context, human rights in transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation, human rights in the context of biotechnology and bio-ethics, in new forms of legal regulation, and associated with security, war and terror.
Key members of cluster
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Stanley Cohen, Emeritus Professor of Sociology: Denial, the suffering of 'distant others', media representations of atrocities and human rights violations
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Paul Gilroy, Anthony Giddens Professor of Social Theory: best known for his work on racism, nationalism and ethnicity and his original approach to the history of the African diaspora into the western hemisphere. Current research includes study of the moral economy of blackness in the twentieth century which is centrally concerned with the relationship between freedom, automobility and citizenship.
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Claire Moon, Lecturer in the Sociology of Human Rights: Transitional justice, political reconciliation, therapeutic responses to the trauma of war and atrocity
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Dr Alasdair Cochrane: philosophical justifications of rights; theories of rights; the concept of human dignity; animal rights (and its relationship with human rights); the use of human rights in bioethics; the use of human rights in environmentalism; and contemporary political theory.
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Fran Tonkiss, Lecturer in Sociology: Economic justice, global inequality, social and economic rights
Esteem
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Cohen's book, States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering (2001) won much acclaim and many prizes. He has lectured on these themes in many countries. He received the Sellin-Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology (1985) and is on the Board of the International Council on Human Rights. In 1987, he was elected as a member of the British Academy.
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Gilroy has worked, among other things, as a guest curator at the Tate Gallery and the House of World Cultures in Berlin. He has lectured in universities all over the world. His work has been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish and German.
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Moon has held a Visiting appointment at the University of Antwerp. Her recent research is currently being translated into Spanish. She has acted as reviewer for Global Society, Journal of Intercultural Studies, British Journal of Sociology, and Journal of Peace Research.
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Tonkiss has held Visiting appointments at the University of Innsbruck; University of Technology, Sydney; and the University of Adelaide and is a member of the editorial boards of the British Journal of Sociology and Senses and Society.
Doctoral students
A significant number of research students registered in Sociology are working in the area of human rights, citizenship and social justice, some of whom have attracted external funding from various grant-making bodies. In addition, the Centre for the Study of Human Rights runs an interdisciplinary, cross-departmental post-graduate research seminar that draws together doctoral students from the Sociology Department and other students working on human rights right across the LSE.
Postdoctoral fellows
One Tutorial Fellow, Dr Ivan Manokha, is currently appointed to the MSc Human Rights, and The Centre for the Study of Human Rights (CSHR) runs a Visiting Fellowship Scheme that attracts new and established scholars from around the world.
Linked Masters Programme
The MSc in Human Rights had its first intake in October 2001 and has a current intake of 60 students, many of whom have a background in human rights related work in NGOs or international organizations. The students provide crucial input to the work of the cluster, undertake internships during their period of registration and conduct fieldwork for their dissertations. Some go on to undertake PhDs in this area.
Funded research
The CSHR has two ESRC funded projects currently underway: 'The Role of Civil Society in a National Security State' which is an ESRC funded set of seminars (£12,440,) and 'British Perceptions of National Security, Civil Liberties and Human Rights', a British Social Attitudes project supported by the ESRC (£45,000).
Outreach
The CSHR has a very active outreach strategy that includes frequent evening and lunchtime public lectures and seminars, short courses, training programmes and conferences.
Future strategy
Future research strategy is concentrated on a bid to the ESRC for a large research grant on Cultures of Human Rights, currently under development. The bid will be for an amount in the region of £500-750k.