This proposed panel will bring together papers that concern the relation between the social sciences and the history of human rights. The recent historiography on human rights, especially since ca. 2010, has partly developed in dialogue with literature from the social sciences, which already focused on the subject of human rights earlier on. Many of the phenomena that social scientists and historians have investigated are the same, such as the transnational circulation and adaptation of ideas, the institutionalisation of human rights norms, and the development of international and nongovernmental organisations. This exchange between the social sciences and history has been marked by cross-fertilisation as well as marked disagreement. There also remains, however, substantial space for further exploration of the relationship between the two, as historical work on human rights often eschews social-scientific concepts. The questions this panel poses, then, are: What has been lost or gained in human rights history through exchange with the social sciences? Why have historians used or avoided social-scientific concepts? What should be the relationship between human rights history and the social sciences going forward?

This panel will take stock and reflect on the limits and possibilities of exchange between human rights history and the social sciences. Papers may offer reflections on the development of the field or focus on a particular concept or empirical case. We have in mind themes such as “vernacularisation”, the “boomerang effect” (or the “spiral model”), “democratisation”, “depoliticisation”, or “framing”, among many possibilities, but are open to a wide range of approaches. Proposals should, though, relate in some way to “global history”, since this panel is intended to fit within the conference’s Global History network. The convenors of this network have drawn special attention to papers that emphasise gender and women’s histories, histories addressing power and inequality, and economic analyses in global history, among others (see: https://esshc.iisg.amsterdam/en/global-history-network). Proposals that address both these themes and the theme of the panel are particularly welcome, but so are proposals focused on other historical contexts and phenomena.

If you are interested in participating, please send us an abstract of 200-500 words by 14 April 2024.

Please note: this call is for a panel proposal for the European Social Science History Association Conference, 2025. The conference will be held at Leiden University, the Netherlands, 26-29 March 2025. Registration at the conference, plus other expenses associated with attending, will be the panelists' own responsibility.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.

Michelle Carmody (michelle.carmody@kuleuven.be)
Bastiaan Bouwman (s.a.bouwman@uu.nl)