Back to top

The virtual human rights library brings together resources from multiple libraries and information services, both internal and external, to create an online hub dedicated to the study of human rights. This curation is unique in its interdisciplinary concerns and focuses on writings and research from social sciences, humanities, and law.

The virtual library is continually updated with the latest academic research in issue areas, as well as with relevant films, recorded conversations, and other forms of media.

Searchable Database

Click into the dropdowns to select the disciplines, keywords, and media type for your search, and then hit "Apply."

Jianglin Li 1959 拉薩! (New Century Press, 2010)

1959年3月10日,拉薩數萬民眾包圍達賴喇嘛的夏宮羅布林卡,阻止他按照原定計劃前往西藏軍區司令部觀看文藝演出。隨後民眾集會遊行,喊出了要求解放軍撤出西藏,要求西藏獨立的口號。那天在拉薩發生的事,史稱「1959年拉薩事件」。事件導致未滿24歲的西藏政教領袖,時任全國人大常委會副委員長、西藏自治區籌委會主任的第十四世達賴喇嘛丹增嘉措率家人和噶廈政府部分主要官員,於17日深夜離開羅布林卡,經過兩周跋涉,翻越喜馬拉雅山,前往印度尋求政治庇護。

本書是以 細緻入微的研究以及公正的立場揭示「1959年拉薩事件」歷史真相的開創性作品。

On March 10th, 1959, tens of thousands of people surrounded Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's summer palace in Lhasa, preventing him from attending a prescheduled theater performance at the headquarters of the Tibetan Military Region. Soon afterwards, the...

Leta Hong Fincher Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China (Verso, 2018)

On the eve of International Women's Day in 2015, the Chinese government arrested five feminist activists and jailed them for thirty-seven days. The Feminist Five became a global cause célèbre, with Hillary Clinton speaking out on their behalf and activists...

Jean-Pierre Reed, Rhys H. Williams, Kathryn B. Ward "Civil religious contention in Cairo, Illinois: priestly and prophetic ideologies in a “northern” civil rights struggle."  Theory and Society 45 (2016): 25-55.

We argue that analyses of civil religious ideologies in civil rights contention must include the interplay of both movement and countermovement ideologies and must recognize the ways in which such discourse amplifies conflict as well as serves as a basis...

Erin Kelly, Frank Dobbin "Civil rights law at work: Sex discrimination and the rise of maternity leave policies." American Journal of Sociology 105, no. 2 (1999): 455-92.

By the time Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, many employers had created maternity leave programs. Analysts argue that they did so in response to the feminization of the workforce. This study charts the spread of...

Lawrence Lessig Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (New York: Basic Books, 2000)

There’s a common belief that cyberspace cannot be regulated-that it is, in its very essence, immune from the government’s (or anyone else’s) control. Code, first published in 2000, argues that this belief is wrong. It is not in the...

Nico Slate Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India (Harvard University Press, 2017)

A hidden history connects India and the United States, the world’s two largest democracies. From the late nineteenth century through the 1960s, activists worked across borders of race and nation to push both countries toward achieving their democratic principles. At...

Charles Ess Digital Media Ethics (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009)

This is the first textbook on the central ethical issues of digital media, ranging from computers and the Internet to mobile phones. It is also the first book of its kind to consider these issues from a global perspective, introducing ethical theories...

Randall Williams The Divided World: Human Rights and its Violence (University of Minnesota Press, 2010)

Taking a critical view of a venerated international principle, Randall Williams shows how the concept of human rights—often taken for granted as a force for good in the world—corresponds directly with U.S. imperialist aims. Citing internationalists from W. E. B...

Raymonde Monnier "Droit et démocratie. Entre faits et normes," Annales historiques de la Révolution française Vol. 317 (1999), pp. 545-547

Carol Anderson Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955 (Cambridge University Press, 2003)

As World War II drew to a close and the world awakened to the horrors wrought by white supremacists in Nazi Germany, the NAACP and African-American leaders sensed an opportunity to launch an offensive against the conditions of segregation and...

Please Note:

While the Virtual Library is now live for use, we are still working to update its contents and improve its functionality.  

It is usable by all visitors, but the hyperlinks to materials listed are for UChicago community members with a CNet ID and password.  

Please direct feedback and suggestions to Kathleen Cavanaugh

For technical assistance, email pozenhumanrights @ uchicago.edu.

Join our mailing list to receive a weekly digest of Pozen-related news, opportunities, and events.