Scottish Centre for War Studies and Conflict Archaeology

Dr. Sarah Dunstan (Queen Mary University of London), Race, Rights & Humanity in Visions of World Order

Thursday 27 May 2021, 4-5.30pm

Seminar co-hosted by the Scottish Centre for War Studies & Battlefield Archaeology and the Global History Cluster

Zoom details from Rachel Chin

Throughout the twentieth century Black activists throughout the French and American empires grappled with the connections between culture, race, citizenship and access to rights. Dunstan’s new book, Race, Rights and Reform, connects the independent archives of Black activist organisations and the national archives of the United States and France with those of international institutions such as the League of Nations, the United Nations and the Comintern. In this talk, Dunstan will speak to the central arguments of her work, showing how questions of race and nation intersected across national and imperial borders and exploring the ways in which Black intellectuals simultaneously constituted and reconfigured notions of Western civilization. That research prompted the questions that form the basis of her new book project, an inquiry into the relationship between mid-century formulations of human rights and citizenship law, and socio-philosophical understandings of what it means to be human. Here, she will connect the two projects to reflect upon the relationship between race, rights and humanity in historical visions of world order.

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First published: 23 March 2021