Time: 12:00 - 2:00pm Venue: Room 313, Third Floor, Law Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS United Kingdom
Organised by the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context (CLSGC).
Chair: Dr Isobel Roele (QMUL)
Speaker: Professor Ratna Kapur (Jindal Global Law School)
Commentator: Dr Jessie Hohmann (QMUL)
‘This draft chapter from my book manuscript entitled “Freedom in a Fishbowl: Gender, Alterity and Human Rights,” examines competing understandings of freedom within the specific context of human rights engagement with alterity and the gendered ‘Other’ in relation to the veil. I first delineate how these engagements hinge on the forceful liberal premise that freedom from this practice is a universally desired end goal in the domain of gender equality, and can be effectively secured through the incorporation of the wearer into rights discourse. These interventions demonstrate how the human rights project is advancing a specific vision not only of gender but also of freedom; and in fact aggressively asserting itself as the vision of freedom unequivocally aspired to by all those who, according to the liberal paradigm, are un-free. The second and related focus of this chapter is to draw attention to the politics that informs the choice of some of the women who refuse to unveil. My argument illuminates how such alternative definitions of freedom push back against the hegemonies of rights discourse with regard to the axiomatic liberal definition of what constitutes freedom for all women. In the process, I expose not only the coercive limits of gender equality, but also the much bigger illusion of human rights as a viable and effective freedom project’.
A lunch will be served to which all attendees are invited.
For directions to the venue, please refer to the map.
This event is free but prior booking is required. Register online via Eventbrite.
For more information on this event, please email lawevents@qmul.ac.uk.
School of Law events may be photographed or video and audio recorded. These materials will be used for internal and external promotional purposes only by Queen Mary University of London. If you object to appearing in the photographs, please let our photographer know on the day. Alternatively you can email lawevents@qmul.ac.uk in advance of the event that you are attending.