Attend the Spring 2024 Rapoport Center Graduate Workshop in Human Rights and Social Justice

Call for Papers: Rapoport Center Graduate Workshop in Human Rights and Social Justice

Thurs., April 11, 2024, 9:00 am–12:00 pm & Thurs., April 18, 2024, 9:00 am–12:00 pm

Submissions due by February 15, 2024

The Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice invites UT-Austin graduate and professional students to receive feedback on their work at a Spring 2024 inter-disciplinary workshop. The workshop will connect students to peers working in other disciplines, as well as to an interdisciplinary group of faculty members who will give substantive feedback on scholarly work. Workshop participation requires a work-in-progress relating to human rights or social justice, broadly defined (see below). The work may be a class paper, draft article or book chapter, thesis or dissertation section or chapter, or other scholarly projects that participants intend to refine and publish.

Participation and Submissions: All graduate and professional students currently enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin (including PhD students, PhD candidates, MA/MS/MFA students, law students, and policy students) are welcome to submit papers. Successful applicants will be asked to become graduate affiliates of the Rapoport Center. In order to participate, student presenters must commit to attend both half-days of the workshop in full (9 am to 12 pm, Thursday, April 11, 2024; and 9 am to 12 pm, Thursday, April 18, 2024). Interdisciplinary exchange and feedback will be a key goal of the workshop process.

To apply, please fill out the Interest Form by visiting http://links.utexas.edu/hlnzko. To apply, you must upload a C.V., provide information about your submission, including a tentative title and an abstract of 250–400 words, and briefly explain how your paper would benefit from interdisciplinary feedback. You will also be asked to identify three UT faculty members who you do not already work with but could provide helpful feedback on your work. Submissions must be received by 11:59 pm on February 15, 2024.

If your work is accepted, you will be notified by February 23, 2024. Successful applicants will be expected to circulate an excerpt of their paper (between 3000 and 5000 words) to the other workshop participants by March 22, 2024.

 Each paper in the workshop will be discussed for around 45 minutes, depending on the number of submissions. All participants will be expected to read the papers discussed at the workshop. Each author will have their work presented by another grad student author according to a peer presentation method used in past workshops. Conference participants will also receive feedback from a faculty respondent.

What do we mean by “human rights and social justice?”

The Rapoport Center’s approach to human rights and social justice is broad, with an emphasis on work that is interdisciplinary, critical, and thinking globally about local, national, and transnational issues. We welcome papers from all disciplines and from students at all stages of their graduate studies. Papers can address any human rights and social justice topics. We especially encourage submissions relating to the Rapoport Center’s thematic priorities: reproductive justice and sexual rights; environmental justice and climate justice; peace and nuclear disarmament; inequality; and the future of work. For additional information on the Rapoport Center’s work and its affiliate programs, please see its website.

For questions, contact the Student Organizers at HumanRights@law.utexas.edu.