Thanks to the funds from the Mack-Mayerfeld Fellowship, I was able to travel to New Mexico for 5 days in June 2018. The purpose of the trip was two-fold: to visit the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico to view archival materials, and also to interview elder family members to help

I used the funds from the Benjamin Linder award to return to the town of Nuevo Amanecer, Guatemala to conduct follow-up interviews for my dissertation research and attend the community’s 20th anniversary celebration at the end of July. July 27th marks the anniversary of their return from 15 years of exile in Mexico, where they

From March to September of 2018, I had the privilege of working as a fellow at the Center for Human Rights, made possible by the Jennifer Caldwell Endowed Fund. My work for CHR consisted in constructing an archive for the Northwest Detention Center Resistance (La Resistencia), one of our partner organizations. La Resistencia is a

Within international relations, there is substantial research on how new norms spread and how states decide to join treaties, but very little research on how norms die or decay.  This is an oversight, as norms are not always positive.  We can frame the fight against slavery or shift away from infanticide in terms of the

It is well recognized now that the United States government is deliberately implementing inhumane and discriminatory immigration policies and practices. These policies are arbitrary and unlawful. Moreover, prominent immigrants’ defenders from throughout the country, have been targeted by the Trump Administration for their human rights work in defense of migrants. The Inter-American Commission on Human

Last year, in response to requests for partnership from local immigrant rights organizations, our research team began examining the human rights implications of contemporary immigration enforcement in Washington state. This work continues to grow, in both depth and urgency: at a time of heightened concern about immigration, it is more important than ever to understand

Across the United States, recent years have seen growing recognition of the need to explore new models to expand access to health care. While the movement toward fulfilling the promise of health as a human right may have stalled among politicians, Native communities in the Pacific Northwest are forging innovative models, in ways that may

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Rob Crawford, of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Tacoma, who received the Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award this past June 2018. As the founder of the Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture, Rob has worked tirelessly to advance human rights for all people. His thoughtful

A few days ago, a neighbor thanked me for my work in human rights. She shook her head as she said it, as if to convey the impression that our work is a depressing act of service performed amid challenging times—but I told her it’s quite the opposite.

Mass incarceration is increasingly recognized as a major source of both inequality and human rights violations in the United States. The U.S. incarceration rate is now five to ten times higher than those found in comparable countries, and mass incarceration very disproportionately impacts young and poor people, particularly those of color. For example, an estimated