Art Projects
Over the past 25 years I have been blessed to be involved with numerous showings of plays, films, and public art projects devoted to critical and often overlooked human rights issues. Some of these I directed while others I played a significant role. In all of them I worked with brilliant teams that have included artists, community members, faculty, students, and staff.
Our goal has always been to better represent the voices and experiences of marginalized peoples and to cause a disruption in hegemonic discourses that oppress vulnerable people.
Here I showcase
1. Film showings that I hosted - usually with conversations with the filmmakers and/or the lead actors
2. Showings of plays that I helped to bring to life.
3. The art from our Border Justice events at Arizona State University from 2003-2011.
4. Other public art projects.
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With Todd Landman, Rhona Smith, and Zhang Wanhong. Holding our edited book, Human Rights in Our Time: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Published by Beijing Legal Press.
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Border Justice Events at ASU
Coordinator or Co-Coordinator of all Border Justice events between 2003 and 2009. Consultant on Border Justice events for 2010 and 2011.
Examples of Border Justice Events:
Co-Coordinator, Border Justice Festival and Film Event, April 2007, Event included Film Showing and Talk with Director Ray Ybarra, Public Art Project, Tabling by Community Groups, Performance by Local Latino Musicians, Petition Drive.
Coordinator, Migrants, Justice, and the Border Event, April 2004, Event included, inter alia: Two Public Art Projects, Panels and Academic Conference (including more than 50 Speakers), Town Hall with State Legislators, Film Screening of The Gatekeeper, Performance of Award-Winning Plays, Video Oral Histories of “Border Crossings,” Moot Supreme Court on Protect Arizona Now Initiative, Food Drive, Petition Drive, Fundraising.
Co-Coordinator, Gender, Justice, and the Border Event, April 2003, Event included, inter alia, Film Showing and Talk with Director Lourdes Portillo, Two Moderated Panels, Public Art Project, Student Poster Session, Candlelight vigil for the Women of Ciudad Juárez, Food Drive, Petition Drive, Fundraising for Casa Amiga Women’s Shelter.
Border Justice Events were nominated for the Best of the West Award, by WESTMARC, the West Valley business association.
2018-2021 Organizing Member of Tucson Labyrinth Project, that produced the plays “Dogs of Rwanda,” “Apples in Winter,” and “Conceal and Carry.”
2017 Lead Organizer, “Women’s Empowerment and Human Rights” 4-day long event, featuring a one-woman play and participatory documentary, in Tucson devoted to women’s rights in India.
2016-2017 Organizing Member of Teatro Dignidad, including the production of the one-woman play Digna.
2014 “LGBTQ Rights in Cameroon” Co-Leader with Honors Student Agnes Ewongwo after the showing of Born This Way, as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, March.
2014 Condom Olympics, University of Arizona, organized with my GWS 150, Sex, Health, and AIDS class.
2013-2014 Academic Consultant, “Human Rights Watch Film Festival” with The Loft Theatre, Arizona Humanities Council.
2013 Film Showing of We Women Warriors, University of Arizona, organized by my HNRS 204, Ethnicities and Conflicts class.
Single-Authored Books
Joyful Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2019.
In popular, legal, and academic discourses a subtle but significant shift has occurred: the term “human rights” is now almost always discussed in relation to its opposite, “human rights abuses.” Syllabi, textbooks, and academic articles focus largely on abuses, victimization, trauma, and occasionally resilience. Yet, abuses or even resilience fail to encompass “human rights” or the lives of those victimized. Those victimized almost always experience a panoply of human emotions including happiness and joy, and human rights should also be discussed in the context of the most joyful of human experiences.
Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other. Cambridge University Press, 2011 (978-1-107-01007-9).
An-archy and Justice: An Introduction to Emmanuel Levinas's Political Thought. Lexington Books, October 2003 (0-7391-0703-8).
Edited Books
Binational Human Rights: The U.S.-Mexico Experience. Co-Editor with Carol Mueller. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2014 (978-0-8122-4628-5).
Human Rights in Our Time: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Co-Editor with Todd Landman and Rhona Smith. Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Originally Published in Chinese.
Current Book Projects
Human Rights Conversations: An Introduction to Human Rights Practice. Under Contract with Routledge, Lead Editor with Sheila B. Keetharuth, Rhona Smith, Semere Kesete, Devorah Wainer, Leonard Hammer,Elisa Marchi, Francesca Parente, and Ivana Radačić. Expected Publication 2026. Textbook based on over 120 testimonies from human rights stakeholders on the ground.
The Ignorance of Human Rights. Book Manuscript. To be completed by late 2026.
Joyful Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2019.
In popular, legal, and academic discourses a subtle but significant shift has occurred: the term “human rights” is now almost always discussed in relation to its opposite, “human rights abuses.” Syllabi, textbooks, and academic articles focus largely on abuses, victimization, trauma, and occasionally resilience. Yet, abuses or even resilience fail to encompass “human rights” or the lives of those victimized. Those victimized almost always experience a panoply of human emotions including happiness and joy, and human rights should also be discussed in the context of the most joyful of human experiences.
Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other. Cambridge University Press, 2011 (978-1-107-01007-9).
An-archy and Justice: An Introduction to Emmanuel Levinas's Political Thought. Lexington Books, October 2003 (0-7391-0703-8).
Edited Books
Binational Human Rights: The U.S.-Mexico Experience. Co-Editor with Carol Mueller. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2014 (978-0-8122-4628-5).
Human Rights in Our Time: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Co-Editor with Todd Landman and Rhona Smith. Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Originally Published in Chinese.
Current Book Projects
Human Rights Conversations: An Introduction to Human Rights Practice. Under Contract with Routledge, Lead Editor with Sheila B. Keetharuth, Rhona Smith, Semere Kesete, Devorah Wainer, Leonard Hammer,Elisa Marchi, Francesca Parente, and Ivana Radačić. Expected Publication 2026. Textbook based on over 120 testimonies from human rights stakeholders on the ground.
The Ignorance of Human Rights. Book Manuscript. To be completed by late 2026.
Journal Articles
2025 “Safeguarding the Communication Rights of Minimally- or Non-speaking Individuals at Risk of or Being Exposed to Facilitated
Communication (FC), Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), Spelling to Communicate (S2C), Spellers Method (SM) and variants: Detecting, Responding, and Supporting Ethical Authorship Evaluations to Protect Communication Rights” with Bronwyn Hemsley, Katharine Beals,
Howard Shane, James Todd, Sharon Skinner, Ralf Schlosser, and Russ Lang. Revise and Resubmit for Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders.
2024 “Rethinking Dignity and Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Sex Workers’ Rights Cases” In Societies, Special Issue on Human Trafficking
and Human Rights, edited by Todd Landman, Ben Brewster, and Lauren Eglun.
2022 “Localizing International Human Rights Norms through Participatory Video with People Affected by Leprosy in Niger, Nigeria, and
Mozambique” in Human Rights at the Intersections, edited by Anthony Chase, Sofia Gruskin, and Pardis Mahdavi. Forthcoming from IB
Taurus. With Yohanna Abdou, Shehu Sarkin Fada, Paulo E. Hansine, and Jone A. José.
2021 "The Sustainability-Peace Nexus in Crisis Contexts: How the Rohingya Escaped the Ethnic Violence in Myanmar but Are Now Trapped
into Environmental Challenges in Bangladesh” Sustainability Science. April: 1-13. With Saleh Ahmed, Saleemul Huq, and Rashed Chowdhury.
2025 “Safeguarding the Communication Rights of Minimally- or Non-speaking Individuals at Risk of or Being Exposed to Facilitated
Communication (FC), Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), Spelling to Communicate (S2C), Spellers Method (SM) and variants: Detecting, Responding, and Supporting Ethical Authorship Evaluations to Protect Communication Rights” with Bronwyn Hemsley, Katharine Beals,
Howard Shane, James Todd, Sharon Skinner, Ralf Schlosser, and Russ Lang. Revise and Resubmit for Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders.
2024 “Rethinking Dignity and Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Sex Workers’ Rights Cases” In Societies, Special Issue on Human Trafficking
and Human Rights, edited by Todd Landman, Ben Brewster, and Lauren Eglun.
2022 “Localizing International Human Rights Norms through Participatory Video with People Affected by Leprosy in Niger, Nigeria, and
Mozambique” in Human Rights at the Intersections, edited by Anthony Chase, Sofia Gruskin, and Pardis Mahdavi. Forthcoming from IB
Taurus. With Yohanna Abdou, Shehu Sarkin Fada, Paulo E. Hansine, and Jone A. José.
2021 "The Sustainability-Peace Nexus in Crisis Contexts: How the Rohingya Escaped the Ethnic Violence in Myanmar but Are Now Trapped
into Environmental Challenges in Bangladesh” Sustainability Science. April: 1-13. With Saleh Ahmed, Saleemul Huq, and Rashed Chowdhury.
Book Chapters
2026
2026
Selected Theatrical Showings that I Helped to Bring to Life
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