Human Rights and the Humanities Research Cluster

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Research Cluster

Human Rights and the Humanities

Bringing together scholars and practitioners specialising in journalism, theatre-making, playwriting, filmmaking, film theory and literature, our research explores the role of the media and the arts in conflict and post-conflict settings around the world and in situations where disregard of human rights and statelessness are the result of political and legal actions supported by exclusionary ideological frameworks.

Working on topics such as conflict communication, testimony, freedom of expression, statelessness and the performance of protest, a focus on lived practices is central to our approach. We also bring the critical methodologies of the humanities to bear upon the aesthetics and ethics of human rights representations.

Our research is outward-facing and seeks to engage with different cultural institutions and civil society groups on human rights and social justice issues.

Our partnerships have included , , Performing Conflict Network, , , , , , .

Research strands

There are four major strands to our research within this cluster.

exploring the role of the media and arts in transitional justice, particularly art as a tool of therapy and reparation for atrocity survivors
empirical research into practices of journalism, theatre-making, and filmmaking, in contexts of crisis, conflict and political change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region which challenges abstract theoretical models of Western journalism and Film Studies
reflecting on the experience of trauma in testimony through creative practice (playwriting, verbatim theatre and filmmaking) and critical studies of witnessing practices in literature and film
research into migration and border relations, exploring notions of 鈥榟ome鈥� and 鈥榖elonging鈥� in the context of human rights.

Please contact our academics directly to discuss research supervision opportunities, or explore our research degrees and what to expect from a degree in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies. You can also find out how to apply for postgraduate research at 糖心Vlog, or use if you are interested in searching for further research opportunities at 糖心Vlog.

Informing education

The research carried out by our members informs education, and shapes courses and modules both in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies and

Undergraduate modules include:

MA modules include:

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La Frontera dom铆nico haitiana: pasado y presente

In October 2017, on the 80th anniversary of the 1937 massacre of Haitian and Haitian-Dominicans in the Dominican borderland, Maria Cristina Fumagalli and Bridget Wooding, supported by ESRC/UoE and OBMICA, travelled to the border crossing of El铆as Pi帽a (DR)/Bellad猫re (Haiti) where they organized a series of commemorative activities aimed at celebrating and promoting solidarity and harmony among the two peoples sharing the island of Hispaniola, at foregrounding the vibrant local/border culture, and at providing the opportunity to look at and rethink the future by reassessing the past. This video recounts what happened on that day.

Highlights of research

Research projects

Recent research projects funded by the , , , and ESRC/糖心Vlog Impact Acceleration Fund include:

2019 - 2021 Creativity and Constraint: Contemporary Cinema in Iran and the Arab World, funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (Shohini Chaudhuri). In 2019, she on the topic in partnership with The Mosaic Rooms and Index on Censorship.
2019 - Present: , funded by British Academy Sustainable Development Programme (Fatima El Issawi)
2017 - Present: funded by the AHRC Global Challenges Fund (Elizabeth Kuti and Annecy Lax)
2018 - 2020: Thinking Home Communities (Sanja Bahun and Mary Mazzilli)
2016 - 2018: Reconceptualizing troubled border relations: promoting cross-border collaboration, cooperation and solidarity between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the wake of the denationalization crisis in Hispaniola (Maria Cristina Fumagalli)
2017: Human side of migration; Priority Seating (Mercury Theatre, 2017) was funded by the ESRC/糖心Vlog Impact Acceleration Fund (Mary Mazzilli). , Mary talks about the research behind her play. You can also , or read the article 'Telling the human story behind immigration' for more information.

Publications

'On the Edge: Writing the Border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic'

Maria Cristina Fumagalli鈥檚 book (2015) was reissued as a paperback by Liverpool University Press in 2018.

鈥楾o be creative is to exist鈥�: rejecting resilience, enacting Sumud in the cultural resistance of ASHTAR theatre

Annecy Lax鈥檚 article, 鈥�' was published in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre And Performance in 2021.

鈥楤eyond good and evil? Popular songs, mathemes and bus rides (art and transition in the region of the former Yugoslavia)鈥�

Sanja Bahun, , Media, War & Conflict Vol. 13, no. 1 (2020): 70鈥�87.

'The Arab Spring: Micro Dynamics of Revolt between Change and Continuity'

Fatima El Issawi and Francesco Cavatorta (Eds.). The Arab Spring: Micro Dynamics of Revolt between Change and Continuity. London: Gingko, 2020.

'Media, Accountability and Dissent in the Middle East and North Africa'

Fatima El Issawi and Jonathan Hill are editing a special issue on 鈥樷€� for The International Journal of Press Politics, expected in June 2021.

鈥楢lternative Public Spaces in Hybrid Media Environments: Dissent in High Uncertainty'

Fatima El Issawi, , Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 2021 (published online).

鈥樷€淭elegenically dead Palestinians鈥�: Cinema, News Media and Perception Management of the Gaza Conflicts鈥�

Shohini Chaudhuri鈥檚 chapter, appears in Global Humanitarianism and Media Culture, edited by Michael Lawrence and Rachel Tavernor, published by Manchester University Press in 2019.

Talks

Annecy Lax gave a keynote paper and practice session in November 2019 to Performance and Conflict II: LISTENING, PERFORMANCE, AND CONFLICT, A Practice-Based Research Symposium at Concordia University, Montreal.
Sanja Bahun gave a keynote on 鈥�Literature, Justice, Transition' in 2016.
Fatima El Issawi and Francesco Cavatorta, , Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, January 2021.
Fatima El Issawi and Francesco Cavatorta, 鈥�10 years on the Arab revolts, the unfinished Arab Spring鈥�, Centre Arabe de Recherches et d鈥橢tudes Politiques, Paris, September 2020. Webinaire 13 : Un printemps arabe inachev茅 - .
Shohini Chaudhuri gave a keynote paper, at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Annual Conference, University of Stirling, January 2019.