Human Rights Discourse in Migration Societies. A Research Agenda

Abstract

The Working Paper outlines the research agenda of the interdisciplinary Research Group "Human Rights Discourse in Migration Societies" (MeDiMi). The subject of the research project is to determine the scope, forms and consequences of the expansion of human rights discourse in migration societies. MeDiMi's starting observation is that actors in contemporary societies often refer to human rights norms discursively to articulate images of themselves as well as their interests. We refer to this process as “humanrightization” (Vermenschenrechtlichung). MeDiMi traces the humanrightization of discourse in migration societies in three contexts. These contexts include the legal system, areas of political action, as well as other professional and everyday socio-cultural contexts in which perceptions of self and the attitudes of actors within migration societies are expressed and formed. Legal analysis, social-science research and cultural studies of ten selected fields will provide the empirical basis for a theory of discursive practices in migration societies. This will enable us to achieve a new understanding of the role of human rights in contemporary societies, especially European ones.