SCHOOL OF LAW

Forthcoming Conference(s)

Image, Memory and the Paradox of Peace: Fifteen Years after the El Salvador Peace Accords
April 17 and 18, 2008

Read the press release.

The fourth annual conference of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice will be organized around the recent acquisition by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of a historic collection of photojournalistic work documenting El Salvador’s twelve-year civil war. In coordination with the UT School of Journalism’s Donna DeCesare, the Rapoport Center is planning what will undoubtedly be a stimulating and unique forum for discussion and debate concerning human rights, engaged from a variety of perspectives ranging from foreign policy to the visual arts.

The conference will include the opening of the exhibition “Inside El Salvador” at the Ransom Center with some of its featured photographers in attendance, as well as a closing session on the legacy of martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero led by representatives of The Rothko Chapel in Houston. In addition, a number of panels will offer perspectives on El Salvador’s civil war, focusing particularly on the ways images have created a narrative on violence and human rights that informs our understanding of the country’s past, present, and future.

In the spirit of the Rapoport Center, the conference will bring together a multidisciplinary group of academics, activists, artists and policy-makers to explore the relationship between the local and the global, as well as the economic and the political. The Salvadoran civil war will be discussed not merely as an episode of history, but also as a legacy whose effects – both tangible and intangible – are obvious in the country to this day. For more information, please see the conference home page.

Past Conferences

On December 1 and 2, 2006, the Rapoport Center hosted a conference on The Life and Legacy of George Lister: Reconsidering Human Rights, Democracy and U.S. Foreign Policy. The conference, co-sponsored by the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies and the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, used Lister as a launching point for exploring various themes related to human rights policy development. For more information, please see the conference home page and the George Lister Resources page. A recording of the conference proceedings is also available.

On November 3 and 4, 2005, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center, together with the Texas International Law Journal, hosted a multidisciplinary symposium, Representing Culture, Translating Human Rights. The conference was also co-sponsored by the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies, the South Asia Institute, the Center for East Asian Studies, and the Humanities Institute at The University of Texas. The opening keynote address was presented by Philippe Sands, University College London, author of the recent book Lawless World (pdf). The closing keynote address was presented by Surakiart Sathirathai, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Nominee for Secretary General of the United Nations. Nearly 200 people attended the conference. For more on the conference or to view the videotape, see the conference home page.

On February 10 and 11, 2005, The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice held its launching conference, Working Borders: Linking Debates About Insourcing and Outsourcing of Capital and Labor. The event brought together lawyers, economists, historians, policy-makers and activists from the University of Texas and from around the country to examine critically contemporary proposals about immigration and outsourcing, and to begin to analyze the ways in which each implicates how we understand work and citizenship. Participants also probed how different proposed policies — locally and globally — might affect the extent to which workers are enfranchised in a global economy. The conference included two living newspaper theatrical performances to dramatize the issues. Over 100 people attended the conference. The audience was comprised of the media, government, community groups, concerned citizens, students and faculty. The conference was videotaped. For more on the conference or to view the videotape, see the conference home page.

On April 28 and 29, 2005, the Center hosted a workshop entitled Adjudicating Culture, Politicizing Law: Legal Strategies for Black and Indigenous Land Rights Struggles in the Americas. For more information, please see the conference home page.

In fall 2003, the Law School hosted a conference on Assessing the Impact of International War Crimes Trials, which served as a model for future Center events. The JEHT Foundation and the Human Security Program of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade provided generous support for the conference and for publication of the conference report: International War Crimes Tribunals: Making a Difference? Proceedings of an International Conference Held at the University of Texas School of Law, edited by Steven R. Ratner and James L. Bischoff.