Cultures, Citizenship and Human Rights

Rosemarie Buikema is professor of Art, Culture and Diversity at Utrecht University and Chair of its Graduate Gender Programme. Antoine Buyse is Professor of Human Rights in a Multidisciplinary Perspective and Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) at Utrecht University.Antonius C.G.M. Robben is Professor of Anthropology at Utrecht University.

• Introduction; Part I – Mediation; 1. Persistent Looking in the Space of Appearance #BlackLivesMatter; 2. Community Media Makers and the Mediation of Difference: Claiming Citizenship and Belongingness; 3. "On this Path to Europe" - The Symbolic role of the ‘Balkan Corridor’ in the European Migration Debate; 4. Recycling the Christian Past. The Heritagization of Christianity and National Identity in the Netherlands; Part II – Sovereignty; 5. Love and Sovereignty: An Exploration of the Struggle for New Beginnings; 6. Postsecular Pacification: Pentecostalism and Military Urbanism in Rio de Janeiro; 7. Cities of Refuge: Rights, Culture and the Creation of Cosmopolitan Cityzenship; 8. Deepening and Widening of the Protection of Fundamental Rights of European Citizens vis-à-vis Non-State, Private Actors; Part III – Contestation; 9. Looking back, looking forward: Citizenship, Contestation and a New Compact for Child and Youth Mobility?; 10. In Search of New Narratives: The Role of Cultural Norms and Actors in Addressing Human Rights Contestation; 11. Contested Cultural Citizenship of a Virtual Transnational Community: Structural Impediments for Women to Participate in the Republic of Letters (1400-1800); 12. The Art of Dissent: Ai Weiwei, Rebel with a Cause.

"As nation states struggle with patterns of mass migration, what roles can cities, regions, and private actors play to recognize and support the humanity of those displaced by difficult circumstances? How do patterns of communications—from letter writing centuries ago to Twitter and pod-casting—influence and reflect and shape communities of culture and empowerment especially for those marginalized by their societies? When some religions decline and others rise, what does and should happen to local buildings, communications, and cultural symbols? How can conscience find expression in global markets in art and celebrity? What notions and practices of sovereignty, human rights, and citizenship hold generative meaning during this challenging century? The essays collected here reflect years of cooperative research and explore these and related and timely issues through the eyes of imaginative and passionate scholars from across the globe."— Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University; Co-editor, Engaging Cultural Differences.