Research
The HI-NORM Cluster explores the intersection of various areas. It promotes interdisciplinary approaches and connects different areas to the main theme of human rights and cosmopolitanism. The cluster has played an important role in the development of a research network with local and global connections.
Human Rights and Cosmopolitanism
In recent years the topics of human rights and cosmopolitanism have become central in a series of debates that articulate globalization, global citizenship, and global justice. Our research cluster has worked on these themes since 2009, defining the concept of global human rights as an area that includes issues of citizenship, immigration, gender and women’s rights, race and ethnicity, education, security, environmental studies, international politics, and others. In our view, human rights represent one of the most important innovations in modern history, with a growing number of publications, conferences, courses, and initiatives being promoted worldwide on this topic. At the UW, we have been working together with the UW Center for Human Rights to put our university on the global map as a leading reference in this area.
Normative Innovation
Recent studies on human rights, cosmopolitanism, and “normativity” are directly related to the philosophical tradition of Criticism, inaugurated by Immanuel Kant and expanded by the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. This tradition continues today at the University of Frankfurt, which houses the Exzellenzcluster “Normative Orders” and considers normativity in light of recent global challenges. The HI-NORM Cluster contributes to this tradition by explicitly addressing challenges related to four areas of focus: gender, race and ethnicity, environment, and migration. By connecting these areas to the broader global spectrum of human rights and cosmopolitanism, the HI-NORM Cluster offers a unique institutional setting for teaching, research, and social activism on normative and social innovation.
Interdisciplinary Cooperation
The work of scholars at the University of Washington connects directly and indirectly on Critical Theory, but it also brings new dimensions to this tradition, especially by connecting it to new trends related to the global North and the global South – in an attempt to reflect on issues related to Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, West Europe, and South America. The cluster collaborates on various research lines: