Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice - Human Rights Happy Hour Speaker Series

Human Rights Happy Hour Speaker Series

Andy Palacio strums his guitar as part of his presentation on Garifuna music and the human right to culture.

The Happy Hour Speaker Series is hosted by the Rapoport Center and features faculty, activists and scholars from various disciplines from around the world to deliver lectures focusing on today's pressing human rights issues. Past speakers have highlighted topics from international criminal liability for lawyers to the progressive redistribution of land in Latin America. Speakers are also encouraged to present works in progress so that the participants might be involved in the development of their work.

Lectures are held on periodically throughout the academic year at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

Please join us for this semester’s Happy Hour Speaker Series.

Past Happy Hour Speaker Series schedules and speaker information can be found in the Series Archives.

Fall 2009 Schedule

Unless otherwise specified, all events will take place on Mondays at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law from 3:30-5:30 P.M.

Sarah Snyder,
Cassius Marcellus Clay Fellow, Department of History, Yale University

“The Development and Influence of Helsinki Watch”

Download Paper:"Symbolic Politics And The Cold War: How Helsinki Watch Personalized Human Rights Abuses" (PDF)

Link to audio recording of lecture (Windows Media Player)

September 14

Faculty Lounge, TNH 3.214

Lisa Hajjar,
Associate Professor & Department Chair, Law and Society, University of California, Santa Barbara

“Does Torture Work?”

Download Paper: "Does Torture Work? A Socio-Legal Assessment of the Practice in Historical and Global Perspective" (PDF)

Link to audio recording of lecture (Windows Media Player)

September 28

Jeffers Courtroom, TNH 3.140

Murhabazi Namegabe,
Director, Bureau pour le Volontariat au Sevice de l’Enfance et de la Santé (BVES), Democratic Republic of the Congo

"Children and Armed Conflict "

Dr. Namegabe's happy hour talk will discuss his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the ongoing conflicts in Africa, particularly as these conflicts affect young people.

Link to video recording of lecture (Windows Media Player)

October 26

Eidman Courtroom, CCJ 2.306

Gillian Slovo,
South African born novelist, playwright and memoirist

"Ruth First and the South African Struggle"

Download Paper: "Portrait of an Activist: Ruth First and the South African Struggle"

Read an excerpt from Slovo's book: "Every Secret Thing"

Co-sponsored by the UT English Department

Link to audio recording of lecture (Windows Media Player)

November 9

Room TNH 3.127