Conference at Leiden University (location The Hague), on 14-16 June, 2017. Venue: Wijnhaven Building, room 318
A pdf document with the programme is also available here.
Wednesday 14 June
5.00pm Keynote 1: Thomas G. Weiss, ‘UN Ideas That Changed the World’ (room 3.46)
Thursday 15 June
9.30am Registration
10am Introduction
10.15-11.15am Keynote 2: Steven L.B. Jensen, ‘Global Crossroads. The 1968 UN International Year for Human Rights and the New World of Sovereignty’
11.30-12.30pm Panel 1: Observances and world politics
Self-Determination as Socialism: East Germany, Decolonization and the International Year for Human Rights (Ned Richardson-Little)
The First UN Development Decade (1961-70) and the Shaping of an International Aid System (Anna Derksen)
Discussant: Alanna O’Malley
Lunch
1.30-3 pm Panel 2: Observances and global policies
Propelling fair trade towards its limits: the fair trade movement and the United Nations Decade for Women, 1976-1985 (Peter van Dam)
Establishing the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction: how scientists put disaster on the UN agenda (Lucas Schemper)
The Disappointing Decade. The Evaluation of the UN International Decade of Disabled Persons from an African Perspective (Sam de Schutter)
Discussant: Vincent Lagendijk
3.30-5.00 pm Panel 3: Observances and minority groups
International Protection during the World Refugee Year (1959-1960) and the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981): Disabled Refugees as Victims of the Past or Agents of Their Future? (Veronika Flegar)
‘Surely during this international year, some things have to finally change’: Irish disability activism and the United Nations’ International Year of Disabled Persons (1981) (David Kilgannon)
Love, rights and solidarity “after the boom”. Exploring the critical potential of disability history for studying human rights in Western societies (Anne Klein)
Discussant: Susan Legêne
Friday 16 June
10-11am Keynote 3: Marie-Benedicte Dembour, ‘The Limits of Human Rights’
11.15-12.30pm Roundtable: From propaganda to law. Exploring a new research agenda
Contributions by Yvonne Donders, Veronika Flegar (observances and migration), Barbara Oomen (observances and preratification politics), Marlies Hesselman (Impacts of the UN Year/Decade on SE4ALL on the Construction of New Human Rights Norms), Mando Rachovista (“The UN Works”: An Alternative Narrative of the UN Observances and their Impact to Framing New Agendas and Law-making)
Lunch
1.30-3pm Panel 4: Observances compared
The International Women’s Year (1975), The International Year of Disabled Persons (1981) and their follow-up: from failures in time to rhythmic normalization (Anaïs van Ertvelde)
‘Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’ A Comparison between the World Population Year and the International Year of Disabled Persons (Paul van Trigt)
Visualizing the UN’s Observances – Visualizing Human Rights (Monika Baar)
Discussant: Salvador Regilme
3.15-4pm Discussion and final reflection by Monika Baar
The workshop is initiated and hosted by the research team of the ERC project Rethinking Disability in the Institute for History at Leiden University: www.rethinkingdisability.net. Please send an email if you want to join us to the following email address: rethinkingdisability@hum.leidenuniv.nl by 1 June, 2017.